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houses have been provided by unassisted private enterprise, but making a liberal allowance the shortage at the end of 1923 on the basis of the local authority's estimate in 1919 was probably not less than 100,000. In arriving at this estimate, however, no account is taken of the number of new houses required annually to meet the ordinary increase of population or to replace the houses that through age or other reason become uninhabitable; nor is any provision made for the up-grading of the standard of working class housing as recommended by the Royal Commission. Towards the above shortage only 17,782 houses were being erected or in contemplation under State-assisted schemes.

Reference is made in a subsequent part of this Report to the question of the sufficiency of materials and labour. The general information in our possession suggests that, if the shortage of houses is to be overtaken within a reasonable period of years, the supply of materials, especially of brick, and of labour, especially in such key trades as bricklayers and plasterers, must be considerably augmented.

SCHEMES CARRIED OUT BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC UTILITY SOCIETIES UNDER THE HOUSING, TOWN PLANNING, ETC. (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1919.

Number of Sites, Plans, Tenders, etc. approved.

The following table shows the progress that has been made during the year in the approval of sites, lay-out plans, type plans and tenders :

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In last year's Report we referred to the decision to restrict the building programme under the Housing, Town Planning, etc. (Scotland) Act, 1919. Owing to this restriction the number of additional house tenders approved during the year amounted to only 2590. In certain cases, where local authorities had not accepted tenders to which our approval had previously been given, it was considered advisable, for various reasons, to cancel this approval and require the local authorities to take fresh tenders. Considerable savings have been affected by this procedure. The number of houses in tenders so cancelled was 169, and the net increase in the total number of houses in tenders approved at 31st December, 1923, as compared with 1922 was therefore only 2421.

Particulars of the cost of the houses in the tenders approved during the year are given in a later paragraph.

Allocation of Houses.

The total number of houses apportioned to Scotland under the Act of 1919 is 25,550. During the year we found a small margin of this number on our hands owing to a few local authorities not having proceeded with their full schemes. In allocating this margin to other local authorities we took into consideration the local shortage and the number of houses already sanctioned to be built with State assistance. Other minor considerations were the availability of services and of land already acquired for housing purposes.

Size of Houses.

In the following table the 24,545 houses for which tenders had been approved at 31st December, 1923, are classified according to the number of apartments they contain. Bathrooms and sculleries are not regarded as apartments for the purposes of this table:

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Number of Houses Completed and in Course of Construction.

The following table shows the total number of houses for which tenders were approved, the number in course of construction, the number completed, and the head of labour employed at the end of each month:

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The figures in the above table include houses of temporary construction and existing houses which have been reconstructed with

State assistance. Particulars of the number of these houses are given in the table below.

Position of Schemes.

The following table summarises the position, so far as building progress is concerned, as at 31st December, 1923, of the 24,545 houses for which tenders have been approved under the scheme of the Act of 1919. The houses are classified according to the nature of construction.

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The Housing, etc. Act, 1923, which became law on the 31st July, confers additional powers on local authorities for dealing with the housing problem in their areas, and authorises further expenditure from public funds to assist them in this object. It empowers local authorities to encourage the erection of houses by private enterprise by the granting of subsidies and loans. The houses for which subsidy may be granted must be of the types and sizes specified in the Act, but loans may be advanced for houses up to a value of £1500.

Towards the expenses of local authorities in granting subsidies, the Act authorises payment from Government funds of an annual sum not exceeding £6 per house for 20 years, any payment by a local authority in excess of that sum or its capital equivalent being met out of the funds of the local authority. The Act further authorises a State payment of £6 a year for 20 years for each house erected by a local authority in conformity with the type and size specified in the Act. No State assistance is granted towards any expenses of local authorities in advancing loans as distinct from subsidies.

In order to expedite matters when the Act came into operation, we issued on 31st May, 1923, a circular indicating the main provisions of the Bill as then introduced and the probable course of procedure that should be adopted by local authorities. We suggested that they should consider at once what financial help they were prepared to grant builders and others on the lines embodied in the Bill so that building might proceed in anticipation that the Bill would become law. We also intimated that we were prepared to consider applications by local authorities to be allowed themselves to erect houses.

The circular was placed on sale and there were numerous requests

for copies. Public interest in the Government's proposals was shewn also by the large number of inquiries we received. It appears, however, that the limitation of the size of house to the maximum area specified in the Bill operated against its provisions being taken advantage of by some intending owner-occupiers.

On the passing of the Act we issued a further circular to local authorities on the 4th August summarising its main provisions, and urging the local authorities to consider what assistance should be given to private enterprise. We repeated that we were prepared to consider proposals by a local authority for erecting houses themselves.

Since then we have continued to urge the submission for our approval of building proposals under the Act, and we prepared for the guidance of local authorities a draft scheme embodying suggested conditions which might govern the giving of subsidies and the granting of loans to private persons.

By the end of the year we had approved proposals by 141 local authorities for assisting private enterprise. These proposals practically everywhere took the form of the offer of a lump sum grant on completion of the house. The amount offered varies from the capital equivalent of the Government subsidy (about £75) to as high as £150. Most local authorities have offered a flat rate subsidy irrespective of the size or material of construction of the house. Some, however, have graded the sum according to the number of rooms in the house; others have also had regard to the material of which the house is to be built, for example, by giving a larger subsidy for houses of stone construction than for those of brick; and one or two have decided to encourage the owner-occupier class by offering a larger subsidy to them than to persons building to sell or let.

According to the returns received at the close of the year, it would seem that the financial assistance offered by the local authorities was not sufficient to induce private enterprise to embark on any large scale on the provision of the smaller type of house, the erection of which the subsidy was intended to encourage. These returns shew that at the 31st December plans had been approved by local authorities for the erection of only 557 houses, and that of these 372 were under construction and 12 had been completed.

A list of the local authorities (24) who have obtained our approval to the erection by themselves of houses conforming with the provisions of the Act, together with the number of houses to be erected, is given in Appendix X. It will be seen that the local authorities propose to erect 6723 houses, of which 5000 are to be erected by the Corporation of Glasgow. At the 31st December, 1923, the local authorities had approved tenders for 1417 houses, and of these 225 were under construction. None had been completed.

With one or two exceptions, it is the larger local authorities who are building under the provisions of the 1923 Act. This seems to suggest that most of the other authorities, rural as well as urban, are unable at present costs and rates to undertake the further necessary house building with the limited amount of financial assistance now available.

Once the local authorities have obtained our approval to the number of houses they propose to erect, they have an absolutely free hand with subsequent procedure, our approval not being required to

sites, lay-out plans, house plans or tenders. We receive, however, from the local authorities particulars of the amount of the tenders approved. A frequent cause of complaint in carrying out the 1919 Act schemes was that our close scrutiny of the various details of the schemes led to delay in the erection of houses. Although no such cause of complaint can arise under the 1923 Act procedure, it will be seen from the list in Appendix X. that in some areas slow progress had been made in carrying out the scheme since the date of our approval of the local authority's proposals.

SUMMARY OF BUILDING PROGRESS.

The following table shews the building progress at 31st December, 1923, on the various State-assisted schemes :

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NEGOTIATIONS BY VALUATION DEPARTMENT OF INLAND REVENUE.

The Valuation Department of the Inland Revenue have continued to negotiate with owners on behalf of local authorities the terms of the acquisition of sites for housing purposes. The following table shows the savings that have been effected as the result of these negotiations on the prices claimed by the superiors :

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COMPULSORY ACQUISITION OF SITES.

In the following cases terms for the acquisition of sites could not be settled by negotiation, and accordingly the local authorities passed

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