§ Mr. FIELDasked the First Lord of the Treasury whether the Government will consider the advisability of introducing a Bill to establish fair rents and security of tenure courts for the safeguarding of short-period and tenement tenants as an emergency war measure; and whether any fund can be ear-marked to enable free Grants to be given for the prosecution of certain housing schemes urgently required?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI must refer to my previous answers on this subject. With regard to the latter part of the question, I can hold out no prospects of Grants for housing purposes at the present time.
Where housing is required for munitions workers special efforts are being made by the Government to secure its provision in one form or another. In these efforts, the Ministry for Munitions, the Local Government Board and the Office of Works are co-operating, and in the result additional housing accommodation has been or is being provided in Woolwich, Crayford, Erith, Weymouth, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and elsewhere. But, unfortunately, housing in general, like other schemes of important social reform, has had to be held up on account of the difficulty of obtaining labour, the high prices of material, and the necessity for reducing capital expenditure within the narrowest possible limits.