Problems of Rehousing

Lunn, John Edward (1960) Problems of Rehousing. MD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the changing circumstances of a group of families rehoused by the Glasgow Local Authority. The families came mostly from central areas of the city and were rehoused in Drumchapel on the western periphery of Glasgow. The gains of moving to new houses were thus offset by separation from friends and relatives, and increased travelling times to work and shops. Fresh air and clean surroundings were accompanied by higher rates and rents, higher bus fares and the expense of fitting out new and larger houses. A total of 421 families were seen in their old houses immediately before being rehoused by the local authority. Three hundred and ninety-seven of these families were seen after six months in their new houses and 387 after one year. Most of the families had been on the local authority housing list for over ten years and the average age of the tenants at the time of rehousing was over 38 years. Nine out of ten of the old houses were tenements dating back to the nineteenth century. Nine out of ten of the new houses were also tenements, and the majority of these were of three apartments (Two bedrooms and living-dining room). The numbers of new four and five apartment houses available were inadequate and led to overcrowding in over one fifth of the three-apartment houses. The number of smaller houses available was also inadequate, making it necessary in several cases to accommodate couples and single persons in three-apartment houses. Nevertheless overcrowding was far less common after rehousing, and overcrowding of sleeping accommodation was abolished. Almost one half of the old houses had shared toilet accommodation. In such cases the toilet was usually situated on the stairhead and shared by two to five families. Less than one fifth of the houses had baths or running hot water. All of the new houses had toilets, baths and running hot water. Most of the tenants were engaged in skilled or semi-skilled work, but the tenants transferred from houses due for demolition and the tenants who had kept their old houses in an unsatisfactory state, showed an excess of unskilled workers. Further, the men drawn from these very decrepit and ill-kept houses showed a relatively poor work record in terms of continuity of employment over the two years before rehousing. Over one half of the tenants had liked their old districts, but most of them preferred Drumchapel. Those tenants transferred from older local authority houses often saw little improvement in Drumchapel over their old conditions. They were glad to move to a home of their own, but often sighed for the semi-detached, or terraced type of house they had left. The rents and rates of the old houses averaged 15/4[d] weekly, those of the new houses averaged 25/5[d] weekly. The increase was considered worthwhile by most tenants when they took into account the improved facilities of the new houses. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

• Item Type: Thesis (MD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Public health, Urban planning
• Date of Award: 1960
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1960-79362
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 05 Mar 2020 10:36
• Last Modified: 05 Mar 2020 10:36
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/79362