HUMAN NATURE AND THE SLUM PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 219, 10 June 1919, Page 5

HUMAN NATURE AND THE SLUM PROBLEM

A POINT FOR HOUSE-PLANNERS NEW DWELLINGS NOT THE ONLY REMEDY tA new aspect of tho town-planning problem la raised by Mr. F. B. Wynne in the "Manchester Guarj 'i-L Pousses human naturo and the slum problem, and soleots a point of view which, in the light of the recent conference in Wellington, 13 of topical interest to students of ■ the subject.] ' It is altogether a good thing that public opinion has at last become thoroughly aroused to the horrors of our present housing conditions, that it realises the intimate ■ connection between these and our eiokness and mortality rates, and especially our infant mortality. But it is not so good, that the idea should be prevalent,, as it undoubtedly is, that tho housing'problem , will be solved by tho erection at tho public expense of now houses. - ■This provision of new "model .dwellings" on new sites appears to be the only aspect of the question, 'that has eo far received the serious consideration of Government departments, of municipal authorities, or of housing and townplanning associations and their conferences. It is, of course, an essontial part of any comprehensive scheme of improvement, and much useful work in this dileotion has already been done. The Government has provided or promised grants of money, and.local authorities have been busy selecting more'or less suitable sites and negotiating with landqwners for their, acquisition, and as soon as labour conditions, and prices of, materials permit a great many new-, houses 'will bo erected. ,Most of them will bo verv nice houses. I .have 6een many plans of .such houses, and I should like very much to live.'in almost any of.-them. All; this is very much to the good, and the sooner the work, is'completed and the houses occupied the better it will be for society. .If-.the tenants of our insanitary areas and slums were going to. migrate direct ly to the new model dwellings it .would tie perfectly splendid. . Wo should then only have' two problems left to deal with —namely what to'do with, the vacated areas 'and the b'ricKs and mortar left on them, and how to prevent an untrained population of slum-dwellers from turn-ing'the-model dwellings into a new slum. For house-management, requires experience and training, trouble and self-sacri-fice.' The amount of technical detail involved is enormous, and generally as little known to the gentleman who makes speeches at lhoiisirig conferences as it is to the bewildered factory, girl who gets married and tries to bring' up ten chil-dren-in a back-to-back houso without a slopstone.

But as a matter of fact these are not the problems that will arise. If all the new houses. contemplated were finished. and occupied to-morrow there would bo no evacuation of our slums and insanitary areas. ■ Thero would certainly follow a certain rarefaction of the population, which would bo a deoided advantage from tho point of view of public health, but the congested and insanitary areas-' would , not be emptied. ■ Many people who now pay sis shillings a week or so in rent would gladly . pay .an ex&a two- shillings or half-a-ciwn for ; tho .amenities of: the new house, and the dwelling - they vacated would be eagerly snapped up by somebody who had been' living in discomfort ..and discontent at a weekly rental of four 01 fe 6 shillings. These in their turn would make room for other Ambitious eouls with a,shilling a week to spare. But the population of the "cottages,'' so called, at- the iiTeducible minimum of rent is unfortunately capable of enormous expansion in-space. People do not live in slums because they like, them, or even eolely because they are cheap. They are indifferent to their drawbacks, because they are unconscious •of them; they '- have never known_ anything , different. Of course, the 'living-room,"' with a dirty floor of broken, damp flags', with walla of crumbling .plaster,, and a draught, from under the door which opens direct on' the street, with a view through the back kitchen across the mud of the uiipaved yard to the privy-midden, is not .agreeIt is much less' agreeable' even than the ' vaults" of the public-house across the way, where there is, anyhow, masculine company to talk about the things one is interested in. It is also less agreeable than the view of the street from the doorstep, .with . the kdy-next-doer on her doorstep ready to discuss prices, and husbands, and children, and the ways of "school-board" and "clubman, .and health visitors and other nuifiances. But -that is tho nature- of home, and home is a place to eat and eleep m. It must be cheap, therefore, it, mu6t bo near one's work, near one a. neighbours and one's "pub," and, if .possible, within reasonable distance of the pictures." That is the point of view of the tenant, and the mistake people make is to suppose thero N is anything-either comic or pathetic, or reprehensiblo about it. It 13 the: point of view of reason and common sense.. It is human adaptability to environment. It would certainly have been my point of view, and probably yours, had either of us been one of those ten children of the ex-mill girl, and had we happened to survive; The point of view of the owner of this . property 1 is very similar Ho simply , He oan afford to take his 6eat on a housing committee and promote these new schemes, because he knows they will not reitfly affect the demand for his. "homes." And the speculative builder is content, because when building restarts ho will be able to go on "creating ground rents." so he also takes his 6eat on the committee and makes his speech at the conference. _Is there, then, nothing -to be done besides building, the new houses? There is so much to be done that the building, however necesary, is tho least part of it. Wholesale sudden dislocation of the population in industrial centres is impos. aible, and would bo actually undesirable. Thero mus.t-.be evolution, gradual development 1 of "house-pride,V and a cor. responding training to make its ideals possible of realisation. The insanitary areas themselves must be reformed, and when their population becomes attenuated this will bo possible, Most of the machinery exists already in the Housing and Town-planning Act of 1909. But when' a "closing ardor" or "demolition order" becomes "operative" under this really and admirable Act, it is not in practice "Operative" if tho family or families occupying the condemned sty or stiea must bo turned out on the "side-walk." They cannot "fold their tents like the Arabs." They certainly . will not "silently steal • away," They stop where they 'are,.confident that no bench of magistrates will make an "ejectment order' while they havo nowhere to go to. Overcrowding lias thus become tho palladium of tho slum owner, because it prevents tho local authority compelling him'to'<lo his duty. If the problem wero attacked from this ond there is no reason why many insanitary areas 6hould not be oonverted into places of decent habitation. But the first requirement would be tlio provision of temporary accommodation for dishonsed families. Hero there is a great opportunity for making a really economical uso of tho hundreds of miles of huts that have beon put up for the 'Army. The next essential is tho training of the tenant. That this can bo satisfactorily done has long ago been demonstrated by Miss Octavla Hill and thosewho have worked on her lines'. It will not be questioned by anyone who has seen the oases of hygiene and civilisation created in tho midst of insanitary surroundings by, for instance, the Manches-' ter Housing Association.