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40
Overcrowding.—From the figures given in the tables
of the report, information may be obtained as to the
amount of overcrowding in the borough. The average
number of rooms occupied per person was 0.96. The
population in private families numbered 154,515, and of
these, 20,312 or 13.2 per cent. were living under overcrowded
conditions, i.e., more than two persons in a
room, while in 1911, of a population of 149,702, in
private families 21,784 or 14.6 per cent. were living
two or more in a room. The subjoined table gives
the number of persons living more than two in a room
in 1911 and 1921, and it will be seen that although
there is, as anticipated, an increase in the worst form of
overcrowding, i.e., in those living four or more in a room,
there is a substantial reduction in the total number of
persons living under overcrowded conditions. No matter
what vacant house accommodation there may be, there are
always some who prefer to herd together rather than
pay, even when they can well afford it, for more house
room, but judging from the insistent demands there
are for more house room, these people are becoming
fewer, and the bulk of the population rightly claims that
sufficient houses must be built to enable all to live under
decent conditions.
TABLE B.
Number of persons living more than two in a room in
1911 and 1921.
Number of
persons per
room.
1911.
1921.
Total
Persons.
Percentage
of population
in private
families.
Total
Persons.
Percentage
of population
in private
families.
Four or more persons
to a room
1,706
1.1
1,927
1.3
Three and under four
persons to a room
6,225
4.2
5,823
3.8
Over two and under
three persons to a
room
13,853
9.3
12,563
8.1
21,784
14.6
20,313
13.2