20

THE  HOUSING  QUESTION

“  Our  own  estimate,  our  own  figures,  inadequate  as  we  believe
they  are,  are  tor  400,000  houses  here  and  now."
Lt.-Col.  Fremantle,  M.P.  (Chairman  of  the  Housing
Committee,  London  County  Council,  and  a  Coalition
Member),  in  the  House  of  Commons,  nth  May,  1921
"The  requirements  in  the  matter  of  housing  at  the  present
time  are  appalling,  and  it  is  absurd  to  say  otherwise.  It  is  quite
certain  that  the  general  requirements—without  taking  into
account  any  question  as  to  improvement  of  status  or  condition—
represent  a  total  of  something  like  a  million  houses  throughout
the  United  Kingdom.  This  is  increasing  at  the  rate  of  70,000
or  80,000  houses  a  year,  and  we  have  not  even  got  to  the  stage  of
keeping  pace  with  that  requirement,  still  less  of  making  up  the
arrears.”
Such  were  the  admissions  of  the  Government.
Now  to  get  at  the  facts  :—
The  net  needs  of  the  country,  as  assessed  by  the
Local  Authorities  in  October,  1919,  in  accordance  with
the  statutory  duty  placed  upon  them  by  the  Housing
Act,  1919,  were  (according  to  figures  supplied  by  the
National  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Council)
For  England  and  Wales  ...  796,246
For  Scotland  H5.5 6 5

Total  for  Great  Britain  ...  911,811
From  these  figures  must  be  deducted  about  100,000
working-class  houses  built  in  the  last  2\  years.  But  an
addition  more  than  equivalent  to  this  number  must  be
made  owing  to  the  wastage  of  houses  and  growth  of
population  in  the  same  period.  The  above  net  needs
probably,  therefore,  fully  hold  good  to-day.