§ 12. Sir Patrick Hannonasked the Minister of Health the number of eviction notices served upon tenants of requisitioned houses in Birmingham; the number of cases in which eviction has taken place, and the steps taken to provide housing accommodation for tenants turned out of their dwellings.
§ Mr. BevanUp to 3rst December, 1947, legal proceedings have been taken in 33 cases against persons who have been housed by the council in requisitioned property, and evictions have taken place in 14 cases; as these proceedings were taken only on the ground of failure to pay charges properly due, no offer of rehousing was made.
§ Sir P. HannonIs it not a pitiful situation that these evictions should take place in Birmingham in these circumstances? Will the Minister take steps to remedy this miserable state of affairs?
§ Mr. BevanI would remind the hon. Member that evictions do not take place only at the instance of local authorities.
§ Mr. ShurmerIs the Minister aware that evictions in the City of Birmingham are becoming a serious problem, and that the estates department is totally inadequate and unable to cope with the problem? Is he further aware that weekly we get photographs in the Press of families who have to walk the streets until someone will give them a floor to sleep on?
§ Mr. BevanI am aware that the housing problem in Birmingham is still acute, as it is in other parts of the country, but the Question relates to evictions from requisitioned property. The hon. Member is probably referring to evictions by private landlords.
§ 13. Sir P. Hannonasked the Minister of Health if his attention has been called to returns of population shown in the Annual Abstract of Statistics of the United Kingdom for the period of 1935 to 1946, from which it appears that Birmingham has now become the largest provincial city in Great Britain; and if, in view of this increase in population, special consideration will be given to the gravity of the housing problem in Birmingham.
§ Mr. BevanThe answer to the first part of the Question is, "Yes, Sir." As regards the second part, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 5th February.
§ Sir P. HannonWill the Minister take this pitiful situation in Birmingham into serious consideration? Will he let my hon. Friend in the Labour Party and myself meet private builders to see whether we cannot do something to solve this problem?
§ Mr. BevanIt is a very great pity that the hon. Member did not address himself to the pitiful housing conditions in Birmingham during the last 25 years.
§ Sir P. HannonI hope that I am within the recollection of the House in saying that I have raised this question on repeated occasions with very unsatisfactory replies being given each time.
§ Mrs. Jean MannIs it not the case that Glasgow is a "large provincial city"? Having had such scurvy treatment in the matter of housing from the Tories is not Glasgow now entitled to priority?
§ Mr. BevanI would be the last person, being a Welshman, to refer to Glasgow as a "provincial" city. I understand that Glasgow has all the housing under construction—and this applies to Birmingham too—that labour and materials will enable to be completed.
§ Mr. ShurmerWhile I admit that Birmingham has taken the lead in housing, may I ask the Minister if he does not realise that there are 63,304 applicants on the Estates Register, and that the number is being increased by 300 or 400 a week, while there are 5,000 houses which are so dilapidated that they are falling down?
§ Mr. BevanI cannot accept that. No hon. Member should accept the number of persons on the waiting lists as necessarily being an accurate measure of the housing needs.