| AdminHistory | Throughout the later half of the nineteenth century further housing legislation was passed, and there was an increasing need for the Corporation of Birmingham to appoint a committee that would take responsibility for housing issues. Housing legislation in England started in 1851, but it was under the Artisans and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvement Act, 1875, which gave the Corporation the power to deal with unhealthy areas. Swathes of central Birmingham were demolished for redevelopment and the Birmingham Improvement Scheme.
The Public Health Act, 1875, also had a large impact on public and private housing as houses now needed to have adequate drainage, sanitation (a water closet or night soil for example) and not to be ‘unwholesome as to endanger health’. Further, strict guide-lines were applied to cellar dwellings and lodging houses, and the Council could force an owner to improve his property to meet health requirements.
The Improvement Schemes were co-ordinated by the Improvement Committee (see BCC/1/AX) and saw the Council plan for hundreds of new dwellings and shops. The actual construction of houses was achieved through private enterprises on behalf of the Council or by leasing out land, the lessees being required to build them, as municipal building was avoided as too costly.
The Housing Committee was appointed by the Council in the wake of the several Housing of the Working Class Acts passes between 1890 and 1900. The Housing of the Working Class Act, 1890, allowed for slum clearance and the building of new houses for the working classes where they were required. During the period that the Committee sat, the Housing and Town Planning Act, 1909, was also passed, which allowed the closure and demolition of ‘unfit’ houses and the prohibition of building back-to-back houses, as they were now considered to be unhealthy.
The committee was delegated with the responsibility to implement this series of Acts on behalf of the Council, and they inspected properties regarding their condition, drainage and general sanitation and gave notice to owners to rectify them or face prosecution, or indeed, to seek demolition. The Housing Committee was supported in its function by the Chief Surveyor and the Medical Officer and a new Housing Department was established.
The first task of the new committee was the Bordesley Green Scheme, in which, and in conjunction with the Education Committee (see BCC/1/BH), the site of a new school was to be changed to accommodate a new housing scheme. The committee was also faced with a petition from the ratepayers of the area complaining over the unhealthy housing conditions, which prompted an official investigation that showed that the death toll was indeed twice as high as elsewhere in Birmingham (approximately 40 per 1000, as opposed to 20 elsewhere). This led to a swathe of notices for unfit property being issued, and a disagreement in July 1902 between the Housing Committee and the Medical Officer for Health over how to classify houses as unfit. By June 1908, 4,352 houses had been classed as unfit, of which 1213 had been demolished, whilst the others were repaired.
The relationship between the Housing Committee and the Public Works Committee was close, but sometimes disagreements would occur. For example, all plans for new buildings were generally submitted to the Public Works Committee to be passed regarding building bye-laws and regulations, but often it was the case that repairs sanctioned by the Housing Committee would be undertaken by house owners without depositing plans. The Housing Committee also worked closely with the Health Committee (see BCC/1/AR), as it was the Chief Medical Officer that inspected properties regarding sanitation and in November 1911, the two Committees were merged to form the Public Health and Housing Committee (see BCC/1/BM). |