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.

    27/122 (page 23)
    CHAPTER X.—MANAGEMENT OF PROPERTY. The personal element in the slum problem. 1. The slum problem is one of persons as well as of accommodation. Though recognised, this truism has not, in fact, often been acted upon. Too frequently, the dweller of the former slum shuns his remodelled haunts, though even under these conditions, no doubt some raising of the former slum population was being accomplished. Now, however, that bad housing is to be more comprehensively attacked, it becomes the more important for Local Authorities frankly to face the problem of the slum dweller, and to devise means of raising his standard. No doubt that standard 18 determined largely, though by no means wholly, by the amount and regularity of his earnings, and. this problem is for the most part outside the sphere of the Local Authority. But there are other measures which are open to them. Trained management of property. 2. Experience has shown that very much can be accomplished by trained management. The standard of a whole area can be raised in this way, even without any radical alteration of the buildings in the area. Among the most noteworthy achievements in this direction have been those of Octavia Hill and her followers, a work now continued by the members of the Women House Property Managers’ Association. ‘These women are specially trained for the work, trained not only in rent collecting and its incidentals, but also in matters touch- ing repairs and the social conditions of the working classes. They generally live on or near the property, keep in close friendly touch with the tenants, and are trained to be sympathetic and at the same time firm in their work, while avoiding any undue interference with the liberty of the tenants. The management is run on business terms and on business methods. 3. Reference has been made to the Women House Property Managers’ Association because they are an organised body whose members are specially trained for this kind of work, and who have been used, and are being used, for managing property (some of it formerly congested and ill-planned) by such bodies as the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the Office of Woods and Forests. Similar success, on a less systematic scale, has been achieved by others; and there is no reason, of course, why work of the kind should be confined to women, though they may in some ways be specially adapted for it. _ What is important is that it should be fully recognised that the management of property calls for trained skill and proved aptitude ; and Local Authorities, as others, may lose seriously if they fail to realise this fact. By such trained management it should be possible to achieve striking improve- ments in areas where the Local Authorities have acquired and improved existing houses. But it is equally required where rehousing has been undertaken, and also for new houses under Part III., and Local Authorities will be well advised to bear this in mind. ‘Trained sympathetic management is not a cure for bad housing, but it is always a helpful amelioration, and, where the housing is good, it is a means of maintaining its excellence and of securing the best results from its amenities. CHAPTER XI.—FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. Schemes for which financial assistance will be given. 1. An improvement scheme under Part I. or.Part II. of the Act of 1890, will rank for financial assistance from the State, on the terms indicated below, if it includes the provision of rehousing, and is approved by the ‘Minister of Health. | A scheme will rank for financial assistance whether the rehousing is carried out upon the cleared area or elsewhere. As slum areas are generally overcrowded, the presumption is that some at least of the rehousing should generally be done in more open surroundings,