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51
an additional 933 cases of overcrowding were placed on the register
but despite this fact by the end of 1939 the number of overcrowded
dwellings in the borough had been reduced from 2,651 to 615.
Shortly after the outbreak of war a survey was made of the 615
overcrowded dwellings remaining on the register in order that the
families still living under these unsatisfactory conditions could
be offered accommodation on the Council's new estates. In 331
instances it had been found that the overcrowding had been temporarily
abated, generally due to the evacuation of women and
children from the borough and the call-up of men for military
service. With regard to the remaining 284 cases, 80 were rehoused
by the Borough Council, one by the London County Council, 22
removed to privately owned accommodation, two could not be
offered accommodation as there were no flats of sufficient size
available and the remaining 179 were unable to accept the offers
of accommodation made to them by the Borough Council, in most
instances because of the inability to pay the rent for the more
adequate accommodation offered.
During the period of the war very little accommodation could
be offered to overcrowded families as the overriding necessity was
for accommodation for people rendered homeless through bombing.
With the cessation of hostilities, the reuniting of families and the
marriages of sons and daughters who, being unable to find their own
accommodation, continued to live with their parents, many premises
again became overcrowded but the post-war resumption of building
permitted the rehousing of overcrowded families to be recommenced
and between 1946 and 1949 1,191 families were rehoused.
It is impossible to determine the actual extent of overcrowding
in the borough, but at the end of 1949 it was considered reasonable
to assume that the majority if not all of the families living in overcrowded
conditions had come to the knowledge of the Public Health
Department through one source or another and on the basis of this
assumption it was found that when those who had secured alternative
accommodation had been accounted for 915 dwellings were
still overcrowded.
During 1950 400 new cases of overcrowding were reported
whilst 336 were abated so that at the end of the year 979 dwellings
remained on the register. Between 1936 and 1950 overcrowding
had been abated in 4,607 dwellings.
It will be seen that since the survey was undertaken there has
been a considerable reduction in the number of statutory overcrowded
dwellings. This has been brought about by the continued
decrease in the size of individual family units, the pre-war building
of flats and also the rebuilding which has taken place since the war,