[Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Leeds City.

  • Leeds (England). City Council.
Date:
1930
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Leeds City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    281/300 (page 265)
    General Observations as to Housing Conditions.—There are 74,805 back-to-back houses in Leeds which may be divided into three groups :— (a) Those built prior to 1872 .. .. .. 33,632 (b) Those built from 1872 to 1890 .. .. 28,154 (c) Those built from 1890 until the passing of the Housing Act, 1909, which forbade the build¬ ing of any further back-to-back houses .. 13,019 Of the first group (a), I am of opinion that from 14,000 to 16,000 are in need of immediate treatment, by demolition or otherwise. The remainder are also unsatisfactory, being much below the standard of modem requirements and should receive attention within the next ten years. As regards the houses which should be demolished, they exist mostly near the centre of the city, around the river, and in the vicinity of the canal and railways. The older the type of house, the greater the congestion, and the greater the congestion, the greater the need for improvement and opening out. Generally speaking, these old back-to-back houses consist of a living room and one bedroom imperfectly lighted and ventilated, without scullery, food store or bathroom. Sink and wash copper ” are in the living room ; while the sanitary conveniences are outside in yards or sandwiched in between houses—sometimes under bedrooms. These conveniences are often at considerable distance from the houses they serve, in some cases as far away as 100 yards ; they are bad in construction, inadequate in number and obsolete in type. Domestic refuse is stored in raised or sunken ashpits, out-of-date, insanitary and dangerous. Complaints are frequent of leaking roofs, broken plaster, uneven and dangerous steps and floors, defective flues, broken sash cords, etc. The cost of upkeep of such places must be great, and after the money is expended, they are still unfit because however improved, they are incapable of being made fit for human habitation. In addition to the condi¬ tion of disrepair, many of the houses are verminous, and because of their age and the broken state of floors, ceilings, etc., incapable of being properly cleansed. The health records of the populations living in those houses when compared with those of families in other parts of the city are bad. Sickness and mortality rates are higher, whilst the standard of living is low. For the majority of these houses there