A housing policy / by John S. Nettlefold.

  • Nettlefold, John S. (John Sutton)
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A housing policy / by John S. Nettlefold. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    H as furnishing an original, ingenious and well considered model. But it is by no means clear that the same model might not have been provided by natural causes if indivi- duals outside the Council House, willing to provide housing accommodation, had been helped instead of hindered in their efforts to meet the demands of the working classes for good cheap houses. During all this time very little was done outside the area dealt with under the Improvement Scheme in the way of what is shortly described as “ the mending or ending of small houses in the city that are unfit for human habitation.” It is true that a large number of minor repairs were carried out by the Health Committee under the Public Health Act of 1875, but in the word6 of an important Corporation official engaged in the work, “ houses put right in this way were nearly always as bad as ever in twelve months time and had to be once more dealt with.” The bad houses were not thoroughly and per- manently repaired, and the property owners complained of being continually harassed. Efficiency was not ob- tained, and no one concerned was satisfied with the state of affairs. Part II of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, which gives considerable powers for mending or ending bad houses, was very little used, because, in spite of the experience obtained from the Improvement Scheme, it was feared that a drastic use of these powers without the concomitant erection of Corporation houses would result in unhousing the people whom it was desired to help. The Health Committee reported to the City Council on July 30, 1901 : “ To undertake this work while the
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