Abstract
The author has reviewed rural housing progress since the war and has suggested that returns of details of categorization of rural dwellings, revealed by the survey in each district, be collated to give national figures of rural housing conditions. True assessment of housing need can only be made by local authorities in the light of local conditions and characteristics. He states that step by step with the building of new houses, the work of rural slum clearance should be commenced, together with greater action in demanding repairs to existing dwellings. New legislation is overdue for the equitable " thawing " of rent-restricted properties, and rent increases should be made in proportion to the state of fitness of the property concerned compared with the sixteen-point standard. He has reiterated the need for the fullest use of council-owned properties and the responsibilities of local authorities in the proper housing of agricultural workers and elderly people, at rents which they can afford, facilitated if necessary by differential rent systems. Farmers must play a bigger part in properly housing their workmen.
The failure to date of section 20 of the Housing Act, 1949, is briefly reviewed, but the author is convinced that the Act can still be a vital instrument in securing improvements to older properties, to the common advantage of tenant, landlord, local authority and farmer.
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