London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hackney 1950

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney]

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48
Undertaking not to re-let upon vacation.
No. 58, Barnabas Road—Basement front and back rooms.
Housing Act, 1936, Section 9.
Action under Statutory Powers.
Dwelling-houses in respect of which notices were
served under Section 9 requiring repairs 164
Dwelling-houses which were rendered fit by
owners under Section 9 41
Dwelling-houses rendered fit by the Council in
default of owners under Section 10 12
Informal notices were served in respect of 350 dwellinghouses,
as a result of inspections carried out under Section 9,
Housing Act, 1936, and the work was completed at 156 of these
premises during the year.
Work in Progress at end of year:
Formal Notices 81
Informal Notices 61
overcrowding.
The problem of overcrowding is one which has caused considerable
concern to the Council for many years, as will be seen
from the fact that as long ago as 1901, Dr. King Warry prepared
a long and interesting report on the serious extent of overcrowding
in the borough which he attributed to the following causes:—
(а) The accommodation has invariably been less than
sufficient to house those displaced.
(b) The closure and demolition of insanitary dwellings have
always preceded the housing of displaced dwellers, with
the immediate result of increasing the overcrowding of
neighbouring houses or those in adjacent districts.
(c) Owing to the conditions under which the new dwellings
have been built, their rental is too high to be paid by
the majority of those poor tenants displaced.
(d) The schemes have been too local, and their execution
has extended over too long a period to have had any
appreciable effect in solving the housing problem.
In an endeavour to abate the overcrowding, the Borough
Council in 1919 made application to the Ministry of Health to acquire
sites in Dalston Lane and at the rear of Brooke House for the purpose
of erecting blocks of flats, but both proposals had to be abandoned.
Between 1920 and 1926, however, the Council erected 194