HOUSING IN FRANCE

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3718, 9 November 1926, Page 2

HOUSING IN FRANCE

WORK OF COMMUNES LESSONS FOR BRITAIN in Britain, a writer in ‘ The Times ’ remarks, have a good deal to learn from the post-war housing schemes in France, where, notably in the devastated areas, housing conditions are far superior to those prevailing before the war. Building is considerably cheaper in France than in England; wages are lower, and working hours a good deal longer. The pol•cy pursued in France has also been different from that in Britain, for instead of giving cash subsidies to individuals, the State has given financial assistance to co-operative movements chiefly. These may be organised either by the departments or communes, or by the cheap dwelling societics that were first created in 1906. The holiday maker, unless he visits the devastated regions or passes through industrial towns, secs little sign of the notable progress that has been achieved. He secs the pre-war type of housing accommodation—the tenement houses of five to seven stories in Paris, the five-story houses of Marseilles, the cottages of the Nord, the tenement houses that predominate at Rouen, Havre, Grenoble, ■ and other large towns. In about a third of the i! reach towns the type of dwelling occupied by the working classes is a small cottage, sometimes containing two tenements. Ths type of detached house is found mainly in the north and the smaller towns elsewhere.

DEFECTS OF TENEMENTS. Tenement conditions are unsatisfactory. In many cases only a small proportion have a separate water supply; the sanitary equipment is often defective; and overcrowding is common. Many of the older blocks of property can be reached only by narrow passages about three or four feet wide opening into a court about Bft wide. The ventilation and lighting of rooms looking on such a court is naturally quite inadequate. The arrangement of this “Cite” style of building, with each block usually belonging to one owner, is insanitary, and the highest mortality and the most fatal epidemics occur in those districts where “Cites” are most abundant. The large number of these existing in France constitutes one of the most serious problems in housing reform, since many have now become slums of the worst description. Before the war housing reformers in France were not nearly as active or as successful in their efforts as those in Great Britain and Germany. Legislation encouraged private individuals and societies rather than local authorities.The whole situation has changed since the war. The State between 1919 and 1924 advanced 385,000,000 francs to cheap dwelling building societies, and 091,000,000 francs to real estate credit societies. Last year 44,000,000 francs were given by the State in subventions. Public offices for cheap dwellings have been formed in many towns. In Fails, for example, some 10,000 dwellings have been completed. Flats and houses accommodating about 18,000 persons and managed by the Paris office, are let at rents varying from 380 francs for one room to I,3lo.francs for three rooms and a kitchen. At Grenoble the garden city of Rondeau has been completed.' Other “garden cities” laid out with semi-detached houses, each provided with gardens and divided by broad roads, have been built at Nancy, at Terrare, in the Rhone Department, at Beaublanc, and in all parts of the devastated area. ENTERPRISE AT STRASBOURG.

The writer was recently shown round the .housing enterprises of the city of Strasbourg. There a large barracks has been taken over and converted into Hats in order to provide temporary accommodation for persons made homeless owing to slum clearances. In several parts of the city there arc both small semi-detached houses of roughly the same type as those built by the London County Council at Becontrcc or Downham, and also magnificent blocks of flats seven stories high, with sun balconies. similar to those suggested for erection in St. Pancras. and Stepney. There is also a housing scheme known as the “ Jardins Ungemach,” built on the site of the old ramparts, with the aid of capital given by a local confectionery firm, where the houses, for architectural merit, comfort, and amenities, are quite equal to those in the Hampstead Garden Suburb or at Bournville. . The destruction of fortifications in Paris and other French cities has been of great assistance to Frenchmen in meeting the housing deficiency, for it has been possible to build on the open spaces thus made available houses and flats for the accommodation of those families removed from congested areas, and to provide broad boulevards and gardens. Thus in Paris, of the ninetyfive bastions fifty-six have already been demolished, and, by the law of 1919, fifty acres of the sites on the old fortificatioui must be devoted to the building of Hats at moderate rents for the benefit of the middle classes who have small fixed incomes. This consideration shown for a sorely-tried class is really of interest as compared with the British expenditure on working-class hous--I,, g‘ ACTION BY EMPLOYERS.

Another development of special interest in France is the way in which all the great employers are providing houses for their workpeople. Whereas in England there are only a few notable examples of industrial housing schemes, such as Port Sunlight, Earswick, and a number in colliery areas, in France during the last few years employers have provided many times the total oi houses of those built by State, local government, and co-operative means taken together. At certain oi tlie “ Cites-Jar-dius” built by the Northern Railway they have constructed over thirty-two or these “cites” and have provided homes to the number of approximately 12,000. All of these have at least tomrooms, and some have five or six rooms for large families. These “cites” are delightfully laid out with gardens to each house, sports grounds, water, and electric light. And the average rent is 750 Irancs a year.

The colliery companies have p-oyided at least 100,000 Jiouses. also designed along modern lines. Iron cud steel works, chemical works, rubber lactones, >ugar works, and textile mills have m the majority ol eases carried out expensive housing schemes. Where the concerns are comparatively small groups ol manufacturers co-operate. At a suburb outside Houbaix local manufacturers have been responsible for financing an estate of working-class houses that bear resemblances to those of th« Welwyn Garden City.