HOUSING
Owing to house shortage in Sheffield, two wooden pigsties are being inhabited, one by a man and his wife and two children, and the other by a man and his wife. Both men are discharged soldiers.—DAILY PAPER.
There will be no rest, and should be none, until every industrious man or woman who wishes to have a real home can have one, where everyone who has children can bring them up under conditions where decency can be maintained and healthy life be possible. It is a question of urgency in rural as well as in urban districts, in the most remote places equally with the great cities. In this matter it is no case of having to create or stimulate a desire for improvement. The demand has existed for years, but after the War will be more imperative than ever. Somehow or other it must be supplied more fully. Attempts have been made again and again to deal with the question. Its importance is recognised and special inquiries are now being made as to the best means to be adopted. It is stated that at the present time half a million additional houses for working people are required, and that 100,000 more should be provided annually to meet the normal increase of population and to replace houses which have to be demolished.
It will be necessary to consider, first, the provision to be made to meet the existing shortage of house accommodation both in urban and rural districts. At present a large portion of the population cannot find a home or even any kind of accommodation that affords reasonable comfort and decency. Since the War, in some places, such as Barrow, the conditions have been absolutely intolerable, and when those who
are engaged in the army abroad return, the state of things in some districts may be worse. The President of the Local Government Board recently stated that 1,103 local authorities in England and Wales had reported that houses for the working classes were required in their areas, and that the number of houses they needed probably exceeded 300,000. As above stated, the total requirement is much greater. The deficiency of accommodation has been one of the prime causes of labour unrest; the prices charged for any kind of shelter have been enormous; in some cases the same bed is occupied by one set of people immediately the prior occupants have gone to work, and "the bed is never even cold." The overcrowding of agricultural labourers and their families in miserable cottages, often out of repair and letting in the rain, has long been a scandal. Something has been done by benevolent landowners, who build cottages which they let on terms which bring little return for the money spent on them; but it is quite impossible to rely either on the working of the law of supply and demand or on private benevolence for meeting the difficulty. Strong and immediate action by the State is needed. Adequate powers should be given to local authorities, and pressure put upon them, if needed, to ensure that such powers are exercised. Such action is already being taken, and compulsory powers to acquire land will be given. In assessing compensation, the great urban landowner who has done nothing to contribute to the growth of the town or to promote its industries, ought not to receive the full value of the land, as enhanced by the necessary expansion of the town and thereby converted into building land, with an added amount for compulsory purchase. The manner in which the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act has been worked has added enormously to the burden of most great public undertakings. The compensation awarded has often been outrageous, and the expense incurred in assessing it one of the grossest scandals. It would be easy to give numerous instances from actual experience.
But there is not only need for more accommodation, but also for more attractive accommodation. There is no reason why the home of a human family should as a rule be, as it is in most of the towns in England at present, a hideous object. What has been done at Port Sunlight, at Bournville and other places shows that, by proper forethought and wise expenditure, small houses which it is a pleasure instead of a pain to look upon, can be provided. Another good example of what can be done may be seen in the change effected in the residences for the poorer classes made on the property of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners at Walworth in South London. What is now a pleasant exception ought to be a regular rule. Means ought also to be taken to ensure that urban workers should have the opportunity of obtaining an allotment, if not adjoining, at least within reasonable distance of their homes, where they may grow fruit and vegetables and enjoy what is, after all, one of the greatest of the quiet pleasures of life, watching the growth of the plants which they have cultivated, and enjoying the products.
Round some towns, the estates of great landowners form a ring fence barring any growth of the town until, when trade is good and the town is expanding, extravagant prices can be obtained for the land of which they have the monopoly. High ground rents are fixed when trade is inflated, jerry-builders then start erecting houses, borrowing sometimes from building societies the whole amount required to enable them to build, and the houses are either sold or let at very high rents. The cottages are put up in the cheapest possible way consistent with the by-laws of the local authorities. When a cycle of bad trade occurs the property falls in value, it goes out of repair, tenants have no interest whatever in keeping it decent, it falls into a disgusting condition, mortgagees foreclose. In many cases the building societies that have lent money on the property to its full value, by arrangement between the secretary of the society and the speculative builder, have gone into liquidation, and the industrious
people who have placed their money in the societies have lost their investments. And last, there have even been disputes between the owner of the ground rent who wishes to re-enter and the local authority as to the payment of charges for making streets in the district which has fallen into decay. This is no fancy picture. Those who have had legal practice over a period of years in some of our large towns will confirm it from their own experience.
There is no valid reason why, when land is converted from agricultural land into building land in the neighbourhood of a large town without any effort on the part of the landowner, a definite portion of such land should not be set aside for allotments or open spaces without payment, on the same grounds that a person who is erecting buildings on the land is obliged to comply with building regulations to secure proper sanitation, although it might be more profitable to build without any regard whatever for the health of the prospective tenants. Of course, it may not always be possible to set aside a portion of any given piece of land which is sold for building, but in that case the landowner should contribute an equivalent value out of the proceeds of the land which he sells towards providing the allotments or open spaces required elsewhere in the neighbourhood. Such a provision would not be really burdensome, as no contribution either in land or money would be made except at the time when a largely increased revenue was to be derived from the land. It is not to be forgotten that the large urban landlord usually pays no rates towards meeting the requirements of the town, and receives the full amount of the rent fixed practically for all time at a period of inflation, although the rates may have enormously increased to meet the cost of the things which the municipality has to provide for the needs of a large and industrious but often very poor population.
An example has been given of what private enterprise may do in providing not merely accommodation for working people, but accommodation with really
attractive surroundings, in the action taken by the family of the late Sir Thomas Storey, at Lancaster. They, under the advice of one of the highest authorities on town planning, Mr. T.H. Mawson, have given an estate adjoining the town, which will be laid out in an attractive manner, with avenues arranged to afford pleasing prospects. The primary object at present is to provide homes in the neighbourhood of a factory to be erected where disabled soldiers may engage in some kind of suitable manufacturing work, but the scheme is intended to be permanent. The houses will be near the factory; there will be playgrounds, drying-grounds, probably garden allotments, a hostel for single men, a reading-room, and some place of amusement. The development of industrial villages by private enterprise, encouraged in every possible way, is one of the most hopeful things to look forward to in the rebuilding of Britain. There can be no greater pleasure for anyone who has any vision of what the future of housing accommodation for the working classes may be than to read Mr. Mawson's charming volume on "Industrial Villages for Partially Disabled Soldiers and Sailors as an Imperial Obligation."
Another useful means of improving the conditions of housing for working people has been adopted in many places by carrying on the movement initiated by Octavia Hill. Property has been acquired and placed under the management of some voluntary association, usually of ladies, who will collect rents of reasonable amount and see that the property and its surroundings are kept in proper condition. Various associations of the kind have been established; the Manchester Housing Company, Limited, may be taken as an example of such arrangements for managing urban cottage property. In the last report it is stated that the Company has owned or managed 114 houses, and the directors are assured that the sanitary conditions under which the tenants are housed have steadily conduced to the lowering of the death-rate. The personal interest taken in the tenants as well as
in the houses by the managers has had a marked influence for good. The scheme is self-supporting, and in 1917 a dividend of 4-1/2 per cent, was paid.
Lastly, there should be some method, provided by public authority, through which workers or other persons of small means can become owners of their houses. Building societies came into existence with this object, and were put under statutory regulation by the Legislature in 1836, and subsequently by an Act of 1874. In many cases facilities given by building societies have been very useful in accomplishing the original objects of such societies; in other cases, for reasons above indicated, they have been a failure. By using the credit of the Government money to enable properties to be acquired can be obtained, or could have been obtained, at a lower rate. Instalments covering interest at that rate and providing a sinking fund towards the repayment of the principal would be of substantially less amount than the subscriptions to the building societies, and would not exceed the rents tenants have been accustomed to pay without any prospective advantage. Schemes to practise thrift and to induce people to take a greater interest in their homes and to enable them to acquire homes which are really attractive on reasonable terms are to be encouraged by every means which the Legislature or private individuals can adopt without causing pauperisation. The object can be achieved on fair business terms and without substantial risk of loss. Under the Ashbourne and the Wyndham Acts in Ireland there has been, at all events until recently, practically no failure to pay the required instalments.
A committee has been appointed to investigate the housing question, and its reports will no doubt contain valuable suggestions for dealing practically and at once with a matter so vitally important to the rebuilding of Britain.