Page images
PDF
EPUB

The Building Acts and byelaws, although excellent in their way, are not sufficient in themselves to prevent the erection of houses of an inferior quality any more than the Public Health Acts have been sufficient to ensure the prevention of overcrowding and other nuisances, but strange to say both have acted adversely on the supply of a sufficient quantity of new houses, for a mere compliance with the letter of the sanitary laws has added to the cost of erection and maintenance of new houses, and has, therefore, lessened the profitable inducements to build more cottages, besides necessitating higher rents. This check on private enterprise has been still more strengthened by the increase in local rates arising mainly out of expenses incurred by the local authorities in carrying out the Sanitary Acts. It cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the increased cost of building has more to do with the house famine in suburban and rural districts than the cost of land.

The difficulty of obtaining land as a site for workmen's dwellings has handicapped private enterprise very severely, and much of the inferior housing accommodation recently provided is due to the conditions of sale or lease being so oppressive and exacting as to compel the builder to spoil the sanitary condition of his houses in order to make both ends meet.

This "corner" in land has operated very injuriously on those semiprivate, semi-public, semi-philanthropic bodies such as artisans' dwellings' companies and co-operative societies, that have been endeavouring to cope with the deficiency in the supply of good houses. So much has their work been hampered by this and other causes, that the great public companies and trusts, after building over 30,00o dwellings, have practically suspended operations during the past ten years, in spite of the average return of four and a half per cent. which they get on their capital.

Some people who are careless about their dates are in the habit of attributing this slackening of private enterprise in house building to the fact that the municipalities have lately been building dwellings. It is, therefore, necessary to point out that not enough building has been done anywhere by municipal enterprise to have any material effect upon private enterprise, and that the practical cessation of building by the large dwellings' companies in London dates back at least as far as 1890-four years before the London County Council had erected a single dwelling. As a matter of fact, it is rather significant that ordinary private enterprise, although very slack up to 1895 (before the London County Council completed its first large scheme), has been much more active since the County Council has been building on a large scale.

Public and private enterprise must be combined. Such a vast amount of new accommodation is required that there is room for all agencies-municipal or otherwise to assist in the work, and it is clear that instead of creating friction by merely pitting the one against the other as the "only" cure, it will be necessary to combine and utilise every available remedy of either public or private origin if the present serious deficiency of healthy house-room is to be met by the provision of a sufficient number of new dwellings.

The co-operative societies, who are at present doing most useful work in building houses, and spreading the light on the question, find their housing schemes "cribbed, cabined, and confined" by the difficulty of obtaining land in a suitable position and on equitable terms. They have provided over 25,000 houses, at a cost of about £5,000,000, and are eager in many districts to lay out hundreds of thousands of pounds year by year in the creation of more healthy homes. All the various agencies-religious, philanthropic, and commercial-that might be tempted to build good dwellings, need land and municipal organisation as the concomitants to any successful work on a large scale. The local authorities are the only bodies entrusted with compulsory powers of land purchase for the purpose of providing sites for workmen's dwellings, and it is plain that we must look to them in most cases at any rate for the initiative in effective efforts to secure the great quantity of new and healthy house room required.

New Sites must be under more complete public control It may not be equally obvious to everyone, but it is to most people with a practical experience of the question, that the location and planning out of all sites, together with the determination of the nature of the buildings and their management after erection should be more effectively under the control of the local sanitary authority than they are at present. This can best be secured by the local authority becoming the ground landlord of future cottages wherever practicable, and giving easy terms financially to builders, companies, and societies in return for such restrictions and regulations in the lease as will secure the sanitary welfare of the tenants. In continental cities, notably in Berlin, much good has been done by conferring very great powers of regulation in the foregoing respects without making the local authority the ground landlord, but our political system will not readily admit of such powers being exercised by a person or authority other than the freeholder of the land, and even in Berlin the powers of the authority are not so successful in securing the erection of good, well-maintained property as are the leases of, say, the Duke of Devonshire in East'ourne.

In Berlin, building may not be done in advance of the sewerage of the land; special permits must be obtained for the erection of houses on plots of ground not bordering on a public street; new sites must only be built upon up to two-thirds of their extent; courts or yards of at least 645 square feet must be provided; dwelling houses may only be erected up to five storeys, and as high as the street is wide, and not more than 72 feet in any case; a free space of from 8 to 20 feet must be left between all buildings; the lowest floor must be elevated 15 inches above the highest known level of ground water; and the general laying-out of streets is under special municipal control.

The taxation of site values instead of houses is a most valuable proposal, inasmuch as it would tend to discourage the undue holding back of sites from the market, and would at the same time relieve the dwellings of a large part of their annual burden of expenses. It would, however, require an alteration in the law, whereas there are many powers of local authorities under the existing law which could be put into operation with great advantage.

Some immediately necessary measures.--The one immediate step towards relieving the house famine is obviously the provision of

suitable sites in or near every district by compulsory purchase where necessary, and what is equally important, by some authority-the municipality for preference-which will insist upon the estate being so laid out, and upon the buildings being so constructed and maintained as to prevent the creation of such new slum areas as are to be found on the outskirts of all large cities.

The next step is the organisation of committees and companies to assist the local authorities in promoting a plentiful supply of new dwellings on such sites. Concurrently with these there should be established a system of electric trams and trains, giving cheap, rapid, frequent, and easy access to and from all parts of each district.

Cheap transit as the only remedy will not suffice.It follows, from the foregoing remarks, that the mere provision of means of cheap transit, while a first step in housing reform is not the first step, and most decidedly is not the only step needful. In fact, in many towns where it has been fully tried, the evils of bad housing have often increased rather than diminished, and it is a significant fact that most of the suburban districts near London, where it is proposed to house the overcrowded workers of London proper, have found it necessary to ask the Local Government Board for permission to build additional dweilings for their own inhabitants, owing to the scarcity of house-room.

Building by local authorities advantages and difficulties. If local authorities were to build largely themselves, in addition to providing land for others to build upon, they would be able to assist in meeting the demand for more house room; to provide an effective check where necessary on exorbitant rents; to set up a standard of a decent sanitary home that a working man might reasonably expect; and to establish a model street of well-managed houses in every district, as an object lesson for other landlords. It need scarcely be added that in the event of private enterprise not being forthcoming, it would undoubtedly be the bounden duty of the municipality to provide the whole of the necessary accommodation. Unfortunately, in carrying out this vitally important part of their duty, local authorities are seriously handicapped by sins of omission and commission on the part of the Local Government Board. Long, vexatious, and unjustifiable delays, red tape and inquiries in excess, regulations and restrictions not requisite on sanitary grounds, but fatal to successful building operations, too short periods and, therefore, too heavy annual charges for the repayment of housing loans, a lack of facilities for obtaining government loans at market rates of interest—all these are matters of common outcry in every municipality concerned.

Whatever views, however, may be taken as to the right way of dealing with the question, and as to the difficulty of local authorities exercising existing powers, it may be of advantage to point out what those powers are, and in what way they have been or are being enforced.

Those who deny the existence of the house famine can avail themselves of the coercive and restrictive provisions of the Public Health Acts and the Byelaws. Those who recognise the dearth of dwellings can make use of the various Housing Acts. Both series of enactments are essential to anything like effective and permanent improvement.

SECTION II.

WHAT MAY BE DONE

I. BY INDIVIDUALS (pp. 13-17).
II. BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES (pp. 18-39).

CHAPTER II.

WHAT MAY BE DONE BY PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS.

The public conscience must be aroused to combat ignorance and vested interests.-A recent circular of the Local Government Board, which shows plainly that it is the duty of local authorities to correct all the housing evils brought to their notice, concludes by stating "the Board would point out that a heavy responsibility rests with the local authorities if they fail to give effect to the intentions of Parliament in this matter." In spite of this solemn warning, and what is more important, in spite of the way in which the public attention has been drawn by many sad disclosures in the press and on the platform to the present condition of the housing of the working classes, it must be distinctly affirmed that local authorities do not give effect to these intentions of Parliament, and do not carry out these statutory duties. They do not, because they dare not. They dare not because a strict administration of the Acts in question would, in the present state of the public conscience, mean municipal extinction to thousands of public representatives, and professional disaster to hundreds of public servants. Members would lose their seats; medical officers of health, sanitary inspectors, and building surveyors would lose their salaries, if not their posts. Local authorities dare not do their duty because of the vested interests which have too often "captured," as the expression goes, many political and religious societies that exercise a powerful influence in determining the composition and policy of the various councils.

Can it be wondered at that the average member of a local authority without any burning enthusiasms prefers to "let sleeping dogs lie" rather than offend his friends, and lose his seat at the same time, by showing too active an interest in the enforcement of the sanitary laws? It may be said, "Surely, the public conscience is roused sufficiently to counterbalance the influence of these vested interests." The answer

must be "No! decidedly it is not." Public interest has been awakened to an enormous extent, but we are deceiving ourselves if we think the conscience of the average man or woman in this country has been really stirred. What is wanted in the first place, throughout the length and breadth of the land, is a crusade to drive home to the mass of intelligent men and women the insidious, poisonous, corrupting, blighting influence of modern housing conditions upon so many millions of our workingclass population, and the responsibility of the public for their existence.

It may be urged that as the working classes have a predominance in voting power, their influence alone ought to be sufficient to support local authorities in insisting upon stringent measures of sanitary reform. It certainly ought to be so, but it is not so. The intelligence of the working classes has never been properly awakened as to the supreme importance of healthy homes with sufficient accommodation for all the inmates.

Housing Councils should be formed in every district.In every district, however, there are a number of earnest men and women who are anxious to do something to lessen the evils of bad housing, but hardly know how to begin. It may, therefore, be useful to indicate in what ways private individuals-especially clergymen, district visitors, sanitary reformers, and working-class leaders--can take effective action. In the first place they can organise in every parish or sanitary district a "sanitary aid association" or "housing council," consisting of representatives of the various religious and social agencies, labour organisations, and co-operative societies. The principal functions of these bodies might be—

(1) To influence and focus popular sentiment in favour of wise sanitary legislation and vigorous local sanitary administration of existing Acts.

(2) To assist the health committees of the local authority by bringing to their knowledge the existence of unhealthy housing conditions.

(3) To assist in educating the working classes on sanitary questions, instructing them in procedure, distributing leaflets on elementary hygienic observances, and spreading information as to death rates and causes of illness in specified localities.

Full particulars as to the formation of such associations can be obtained from the Mansion House Council on the dwellings of the poor, and from the National Housing Council, 432, West Strand, W.C., each of which has numerous branches throughout the country.

The Liverpool Housing Association has put forward the following model programme of its objects and work

(1) To call attention to the dangers arising from too great density of population, the overcrowding of houses, and the lack of open spaces, gardens, and recreation grounds in certain districts.

(2) To point out the unsatisfactory quality of the cottages now being provided by speculative builders, frequently men of very small means; calling attention in particular to the absence of gardens and the ridiculous smallness of yard-space. To acquaint the public with the financial difficulties under which these private builders often labour owing to lack of capital-heavy interests and high prices for materials-all tending to enhance cost and raise rent.

(3) To urge upon the City Council the necessity of so altering the building regulations as to make jerry-building impossible, to secure adequate air-space on three sides of every cottage built in the suburbs, to ensure the provision of gardens, to prevent the destruction of trees, and, generally, to preserve the amenities of the suburbs.

« EelmineJätka »