Manual on unfit houses and unhealthy areas / Ministry of Health.

Date:
1919
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual on unfit houses and unhealthy areas / Ministry of Health. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/122 (page 9)
    CHAPTER IV.—GENERAL STANDARDS. 1. It is necessary to distinguish two different standards in regard to housing accommodation. ‘There is what may be termed the standard of mere fitness which implies only that a house is free from any defects such as can be regarded as rendering it unfit for habitation. There is also a higher standard which may be termed the standard of amenity which implies that the house is not only free from defects.such as those mentioned, but has advantages and amenities which tend to promote to the full a healthy and contented home life. The distinction may be regarded as being between what is essential and what is desirable. A standard of the latter kind has been set up in the Manual already issued in connection with the erection of new dwellings under Part III schemes; Local Authorities in replanning and reconstructing cleared areas and providing new - accommodation, for persons displaced will find it useful to refer to that Manual. In certain cases, as is explained more fully later, it may be justifiable to rehouse on a cleared site a larger number of persons than would be considered desirable in an entirely new housing scheme, but the Local Authority should in any event aim at securing as much amenity in the re-planning as the circumstances will reasonably permit. 2. In dealing with existing houses, while the higher standard of amenity should be kept in view, Local Authorities are concerned chiefly with the question of fitness for habitation. It is their duty to see that every working class house which is-not in all respects reasonably fit for habitation shall, if possible, be rendered fit. The standard to be secured and the particular defects with which to deal are considered in detail in the next chapter. The general attainment even of a satisfactory standard of fitness can only be gradual owing to the large number of dwellings in many districts which fall below it. While the present abnormal conditions last, and until the present serious shortage of houses is remedied, there will, as mentioned in-Chapter II, be special need for discretion in enforcing the standard, and the difficulties of owners of houses must not be over-looked. Local Authorities should not, however, regard these circumstances as other than a passing phase. They must strive to remove, as quickly as possible, the present obstacles, particularly the shortage of houses, to the enforcement of a proper standard of housing, so that in a few years all the dwellings in their district may be brought up to a good standard. 3. The particular circumstances of a house may have to be considered in deciding how high a standard it will be wise to demand. Thus, in the case of a house which, though not well adapted to its present use (for example, a single family house now used for tenements), is nevertheless not likely to require early demolition, and is not in an area which will soon require clearance or re-planning, the Local Authority will seek to secure that the best is made of the house that the existing state of the structure will permit. On the other hand, where a house is in such a condition that within a few years it will probably have to be demolished, or is in an area which will soon have to be cleared or re-planned, large repairs or alterations of a permanent nature are likely to be inexpedient, and it may be well to accept such work as will make the house habitable for the time being. It would be unwise to require now heavy expenditure which shortly might itself be a hindrance to a more thorough treatment of the bad conditions. lane <