TO ABOLISH SLUMS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16822, 30 May 1919, Page 9

TO ABOLISH SLUMS.

LOCAL BODIES' POWERS. A GREAT HOUSING PLAN. A forecast of the requirements of England and Wales in the matter of working-class and middle-class houses was Riven to a ".Daily Chronicle" representative by Dr Addison, President of the Local Government Board recently. "Three hundred thousand houses, it has-been estimated, are required," said the President of the Local Government Board, "but I my-' self believe that the- figure is much bigger than any yet mentioned." Dr. Addison then explained that the policy of his department on this tior. of housing was: — . (a) Pushing on with the erection of new houses. * I (b) Refurbishing existing; houses. (c) Pulling down useless hou*ps. New methods have been intt'roduced >vith a view to speeding-up the machinery by which a local authority may put into practice its proposals for housing schemes, and they are now dealt- with by tho Local Government Borad in three stages which progres-sivc-ly pass from approval- of Rites to approval of the houses themselves. *

"Considerable acceleration has resulted, u said Dr. Addison, "and'we lincl 3$ applications from local authorities under the first stage last week, bringing th 9 total to 460 and providing sites'for 80,000 or 90,000 houses; 104 lay-outs have been received and 90 plans for houses. The country—-Eng-land and Wales—is divided into 11 districts, and for nine -of thes? housing cpmmineioners have already been appointed." DUTY OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES. "Within three months of the passing of the Act the- local authority must submit ;i scheme for the exercise oi their powers with regard to the provision of new houses. "When the scheme is submitted it then becomes binding upon the authority to carry it out after the . Loca I Government Board has approved of it. "Where We have reason tc suppose that a neu scheme ought to bs prepared, then we can give noticv to the authority requiring them to nrepare one. If n locnl diithoritv fails to carry out it s obligations, the Board may transfer its powers as regards housins;- to the County Council, or' the board may act themselves. SLUMS AND THEIR SITES. ""We attach th=. greatest possible importance, to the powers under the Act for dealing with the problem of slums and the unsatisfactory nouse question. "The main reason why very little progress has been made 11 ith regard to slum areas is that, in addition -o tho site, the buildings also had to 'on paid for, -while other considerations made the cost so heavy that any rehousing on the site on commercial lines was practically impossible. So the Act provides that -be value shall be that of the jand cleared of buildings and available for development in accordance with the building by-laws' of the district.

"That excludes the possibility of the land being acquired find anothe r slum! arising tipon it: the by-laws limit the character and number 'of the house? 'j that couid be erected. A slum site, 1 ' i Dr. Addison admitted. "might *h« ' worth less for rehousing than" for building a factory. - 1 "What we want to do is to get rid of slums in favour of deo3nr. houses., j "Where we have sanctioned a site for housing the compulsory provisions of' the Act empower the local, authority* after 14 days' notice after the compulsory purchase order has been mad*, to enter upon the site and begin operations forthwith —thus saving a vast amount of time.* "A good many slum are?"* are created bv the impecunious condition of the leaseholder. , Now tbe ; owner can reenter where a leaseholder allows 1,; .s property to degenerate into slums. Tl)<3 absence of that power has meant that in several narts of London r/laces ha.ve degenerated into slums that otherwise. Mould not have done. UNSATISFACTORY HOUSES. "In a large num'oer of areas {here are/ thousands of grossly unsatisfactory houses in respect of which nobody makes a closing order, because there are no other houses for the nnfortma ate tenants to live in. Now the local authority is empowered to acquire such houses, and alter, enlarge, and chop them about in order to make them suitable. Nobody is enamoured of what is generally described as 'slum patching': at the same time there are thousands of nouses in London that ! can be made quite decent and habitable. "Again, the local authority now has power to acquire a house which is not necessarily unsatisfactory, and can I turn it into flats at once. There are thousands of empty houses which could be altered in this way —the. important | factor is the scarcity of building material.

•'Once a local authority has acquire eel a site they may lease it for the erection of houses. We have the middle-class house in our mind in making this .provision. •W-- havo token a p ov f. of 'Dora' power to relax by-laws which■■ "stand in th~ way o r housing and building development." ' ''.