THE HOUSING QUESTION 
123 
Association of County Councils, Municipal Corporations 
and Urban and Rural District Councils :— 
. . But how much greater is the problem that confronts 
us now I For it is not only with the clearance of slums that we 
have to deal—great and urgent as is that aspect of the housing 
problem—but also with the provision of new houses on an unpre 
cedented scale, sufficient to make good both the shortage of houses 
that existed before the war and the vast aggravation of that 
shortage caused by the almost total cessation of building during 
the war. 
•' I am informed that the immediate need of working-class 
houses for England and Wales alone is estimated at approximately 
500,000. To meet this need the same untiring energy and en 
thusiasm will be required as that which enabled the country to 
meet the demand for munitions of war. . . . 
" . . The building of houses at the present time will neces 
sarily be a costly undertaking owing to the present high level of 
prices. But the money will be well spent; and we may look for 
a sure, even though deferred, return upon the expenditure in a 
healthier and more contented people. . . . 
“ While the housing of the working classes has always been a 
question of the greatest social importance, never has it been so 
important as now. It is not too much to say that an adequate 
solution of the housing question is the foundation of all social 
progress. Health and housing are indissolubly connected. If 
this country is to be the country which we desire to see it become, 
a great offensive must be undertaken against disease and crime, 
and the first point at which the attack must be delivered is the 
unhealthy, ugly, overcrowded houses in the mean street, which 
we all of us know too well. 
“ If a healthy race is to be reared it can be reared only in 
healthy homes ; if infant mortality is to be reduced and tuber 
culosis to be stamped out, the first essential is the improvement