THE  HOUSING  QUESTION

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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  unprecedented ­
  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  enthusiasm ­
  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  necessarily ­
  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  tuberculosis ­
  to  be  stamped  out,  the  first  essential  is  the  improvement