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diff --git a/75837-0.txt b/75837-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4a70f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/75837-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1754 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75837 *** + + + + + + HOUSE PROPERTY + & ITS MANAGEMENT +SOME PAPERS ON THE METHODS OF MANAGEMENT INTRODUCED BY MISS OCTAVIA HILL + AND ADAPTED TO MODERN CONDITIONS + +[Illustration: [Logo]] + + LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD. + RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. 1 + + + + + _First published in 1921_ + + + (_All rights reserved_) + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + By I. G. GIBBON, D.Sc., C.B.E., Ministry of Health. + + +Of standards we have heard much in connection with new housing, and, +quite naturally, nearly always of material standards—of the number of +houses to the acre, the size and the number of rooms, the provision of +baths and the like; but of personal standards little, although persons +of experience know full well that, where there are difficulties, half +the trouble, at a moderate estimate, could be removed by personal +action. The experiment of the ownership and management of large numbers +of houses by Local Authorities is not free from the hazards of +democratic control; some in full sympathy with the experiment view it +not without some misgivings, and the misgivings will not be without +place if adequate measures are not taken for proper management. + +It is timely, therefore, that we should be reminded of the most +instructive experiment made during the last century in the management of +house property, the work of Octavia Hill. Her experiment in house +management would probably have by now won her many more practical +followers had she been less of a social worker; but had she been less of +a social worker she would never have made the experiment. There may +still be a few of the comparatively small number of persons who know of +her work who look upon it as an attempt to insinuate a District Visitor +under the disguise of a rent collector. District Visitors doubtless have +their place and season; but the aim of those who would follow in the +footsteps of Octavia Hill, the Women Property Managers, is to manage +property on a firm business basis, to make it pay (and they have shown +that they can make it pay, more so in difficult circumstances than +business management of a dull routine kind), and to carry out the work +with knowledge and experience, with sympathy and tact, and with as +reasonable a regard to the genuine interests of the tenants as of the +owner. This is their aim, and, where person and place fit, their +achievement. + +Octavia Hill’s influence was great in this country; but it passed beyond +its borders. One of the most interesting reports issued in recent years +on the management of house property has been that of the Octavia Hill +Association, at Philadelphia, who report the uniform success of +management on the lines laid down by Octavia Hill.[1] In Holland, also, +her influence has been great; and at Amsterdam, for instance, all +municipal house property, which is extensive, is managed by women who +have been trained in her methods. + +Footnote 1: + + See _Good Housing that Pays_, by Fullerton L. Waldo. Philadelphia: The + Harper Press, 1012-20 Chancellor Street. 1917. + +The ideal in these matters, I think, is self-management, where the +tenants in a group of houses manage their own affairs with a social +regard to their own real interests, an almost impossible result at the +present time unless the tenants have a substantial financial stake in +the property. We are very far indeed from this solution as yet, though +every effort is needed towards achieving it; and one disappointing +result of the State-assisted scheme of houses is the very poor showing +made by Public Utility Societies. But a large measure of self-management +is not precluded from the scheme of management on Octavia Hill’s lines, +as, indeed, has been demonstrated in practice. + +There should be no spirit of patronage in management; if, as happens, +the tenant comes to look upon the property manager as a counsellor and +friend, this should grow out of the business management and as an +incident to it. + +Octavia Hill and her successors did not work simply by the light of +nature, or believe that women, as such, had a God-given aptitude for +this business, though, house management being primarily a matter for the +wife and mother, it naturally opens a field for which women should be +well fitted. But the same need of instruction arises whether the +management be by men or by women. The pupil has to be put through a +severe course of training; she has to be versed in the most important +facts of the law as to rents, landlord and tenant, and sanitation; she +has to be acquainted with the defects which occur in houses, and how +most economically to remedy them. Above all, she has to acquire that +measure of firmness, tact and sympathy without which success is not +likely to be attained. A pupil who is likely to be fully successful must +have a goodly measure of that personal aptitude which, though difficult +to test by any system of examination, is as vitally necessary as are the +essential technical qualifications. + +If the manager of house property is to give of her best, she must be +trusted with ample responsibility and authority. If hampered by +restrictions, if limited in authority, if not granted powers for +selecting and dealing with tenants and the control of repairs, if she +has to refer to superior authority, whether an employer or an official +or a Committee, before action can be taken, there is not much hope, even +under favourable conditions, of more than a bare success. Here lies one +principal danger, equally of autocracy or democracy. It is not good +business or sound sense to pay a person for duties and to relieve her of +the real responsibility attached to them, including the risk of +dismissal for failure. + +In dealing with slum property the lessons of Octavia Hill’s work are +exceedingly encouraging. Weary years must pass before there can be +extensive demolition and rebuilding of slum areas. Are we therefore to +lie resigned and allow these grievous sores to fester in our cities and +towns? + +In properly qualified management we have one at least of the keys to a +temporary, if not a permanent, solution of the problem; and in this way +we may effectively deal with the real evil. The ordinary method of +clearance and rebuilding has often resulted too much in the shifting of +the evil to another quarter, though it may be, happily, in a less +concentrated form. + +One incidental gleam from the reading of the papers in this volume is of +the great advances which have really been made in housing conditions. We +are apt at times, not without reason, to gird at the slowness with which +the manifest evils around us are being removed, but it is well +occasionally, for a proper sense of proportion and for reform itself, to +be reminded of the great improvements which have been achieved. + +It is important to bear in mind that the principles of trained +management apply as much to privately owned as to public property. If +the owners of properties in areas which are now classed as slums would +but join together and employ for the common management of their property +persons trained and with aptitude for the work, it is no exaggeration to +say that within a few years a great transformation would be effected in +the slum problem of London and of other towns, a transformation which +would not only ease the manifold burdens of public authorities, but +would be less irksome to the owners of the property and of untold +benefit to its occupiers. + +Equally important is it to remember that the methods of management +associated with Octavia Hill are as pertinent for new property as for +old—indeed, in some ways more so, for prevention is better than cure. +She learnt her secrets in dealing with bad property, just as the +scientist wrests his secrets from the pathological. Management of house +property on the general lines laid down by her, adapted and developed, +and, as I believe, with increasing emphasis on co-operative +self-management, will help materially not only in the minor achievement +of preventing property from degenerating into slums—and this, as +experience shows, may well happen even with good and well-planned +property—but in the greater achievement of attaining that higher +standard of contentment and of pride of home and locality which should +be the aim of all those who have the interests of the country at heart. + + +The following are some papers written by Miss Octavia Hill in connection +with her housing work. + +They are republished in the hope that her methods may be widely adopted +in the efforts that are now being made to improve the very defective +housing conditions in our cities. + + M. M. JEFFERY. + EDITH NEVILLE. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + PAGE + INTRODUCTION. By I. G. Gibbon, D.Sc., C.B.E., Ministry of + Health 5 + + SELECTIONS FROM OCTAVIA HILL’S WRITINGS + I. MANAGEMENT OF HOUSES FOR THE POOR 15 + II. COTTAGE PROPERTY IN LONDON 20 + III. BLANK COURT 31 + IV. THE INFLUENCE OF MODEL DWELLINGS UPON CHARACTER 39 + V. SMALL HOUSES IN LONDON 50 + VI. LETTERS TO FELLOW-WORKERS 52 + + OTHER PAPERS + VII. WOMEN MANAGERS—A CROWN ESTATE 72 + VIII. MANAGEMENT OF MUNICIPAL HOUSES IN AMSTERDAM 78 + IX. REPORT ON HOUSE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT BY A SUB-COMMITTEE OF + THE WOMEN’S SECTION OF THE GARDEN CITIES AND TOWN PLANNING + ASSOCIATION 83 + + + + + House Property and its Management + + + + + I + MANAGEMENT OF HOUSES FOR THE POOR + (1899) + + +Thirty-four years ago, when I first began to manage houses inhabited by +working people, London was in a very different state from what it is +now, and it is useful and interesting to review the changes, their +effects, and their bearing on the special work we are considering +to-day. + +(1) The standard of comfort was far lower then than now. In Marylebone, +where I began work, nearly every family rented but one room; now there +are hundreds of two- and three-roomed tenements. There were no +cooking-ranges in the rooms; water was hardly ever carried up higher +than the parlours. There were hardly any amusements open to the people; +there was no underground railway, no trams, few cheap omnibuses; there +were no free libraries, no Education Act, no Board schools. Wages were +very decidedly lower, hours of work were longer. The bright oil-lamps +did not exist. Food was not so cheap or so various. Flowers were never +sold in the streets to the poor. The people stood in those days far more +in need of cheer and of help. + +(2) The knowledge of sanitary matters had penetrated hardly at all; +gross ignorance prevailed. There were, moreover, few, if any, +Convalescent Homes, no country holiday arrangements. The Building Acts +took cognizance of very few of the requirements for health, and hardly +any sanitary measures were enforcible—fewer were enforced. Few hospitals +for infectious diseases existed. Many excellent appliances for drainage +were not invented. + +(3) There was not one-tenth part of the sympathy and interest in the +welfare of the people which permeates all classes now. + +From these and many other causes a London court in 1864 was a far more +degraded and desolate place than it can be now, even in the remotest and +forlornest region, and in taking charge of it one had to do a variety of +things oneself, where now one finds the intelligent and willing +co-operation of many other agencies. + +Again, there were next to no “model” dwellings and little power of cheap +locomotion, so that a court in those days was subject to little change +of population; the same families clung to it, lived, married and died in +it. Cheap locomotion and facilities in reading have brought the +different parts of London into much closer communication. + +Many of these facts made the necessity for preserving and regulating the +old courts and houses far more important than is the case now. The old +courts are rapidly disappearing, and numerous blocks of buildings with +modern appliances are now scattered over most neighbourhoods. But in +1864 tenants were neither routed out of foul and close courts nor would +they have been received into the rare and select model dwellings. +Moreover, in the rough courts they were little meddled with, and could +pursue in ignorance their insanitary habits further than would be +possible now. + +It was very natural, therefore, that my first efforts should have been +directed to rough courts and the inhabitants as I found them there. +Steady and gradual improvement of the people of the houses, without +selection of the former or sudden reconstruction of the latter, was our +first duty, and my little book on _Homes of the London Poor_ tells the +history of that early work. But if there is one duty more incumbent on +us than another in such efforts, it is to be quick to see where advance +is possible, how higher standards can be realized, and how much old +forms may be rightly superseded. With certain exceptions in regard to +small old houses, our work of late years has been increasingly in new +houses and with chosen tenants. + +The principles, however, are the same, and there is one great fact which +the changing form has only brought out more and more clearly, and that +is that the conduct of houses or blocks, old or new, so as to secure +health and comfort and homelike feeling, depends on management. One can +see any day excellent buildings execrably managed, and one may see +tumble-down old places of wretched construction both healthier and far +more homelike because well managed. And I may confidently say that the +distinctive feature of our work has been that of devoting our full +strength to management. It will be realized at once how much more this +implies than “rent collecting.” An ordinary clerk will go from door to +door for rents; that is a very different matter from managing houses. We +have tried, so far as possible, to enlist ladies, who would have an idea +of how—by diligent attention to all business which devolves on a +landlord, by wise rule with regard to all duties which a tenant should +fulfil, by sympathetic and just decisions with a view to the common +good—a high standard of management could be attained: repairs promptly +and efficiently attended to, references carefully taken up, cleaning +sedulously supervised, overcrowding put an end to, the blessing of +ready-money payments enforced, accounts strictly kept, and, above all, +tenants so sorted as to be helpful to one another. + + + + + II + COTTAGE PROPERTY IN LONDON + (1866) + + +Two years ago I first had an opportunity of carrying out the plan I had +long contemplated, that of obtaining possession of houses to be let in +weekly tenements to the poor. That the spiritual elevation of a large +class depended to a considerable extent on sanitary reform was, I +considered, proved, but I was equally certain that sanitary improvement +itself depended upon educational work among grown-up people; that they +must be urged to rouse themselves from the lethargy and indolent habits +into which they have fallen, and freed from all that hinders them from +doing so. I further believed that any lady who would help them to obtain +things, the need of which they felt themselves, and would sympathize +with them in their desire for such, would soon find them eager to learn +her view of what was best for them; that whether this was so or not, her +duty was to keep alive their own best hopes and intentions, which come +at rare intervals, but fade too often for want of encouragement. + +I laid the plan before Mr. Ruskin, who entered into it most warmly. He +at once came forward with all the money necessary, and took the whole +risk of the undertaking upon himself. He showed me, however, that it +would be far more useful if it could be made to pay; that a working man +ought to be able to pay for his own house; that the outlay upon it +ought, therefore, to yield a fair percentage upon the capital invested. +Thus empowered and directed, I purchased three houses in my own +immediate neighbourhood. They were leasehold, subject to a small +ground-rent. The unexpired term of the lease was for fifty-six years; +this we purchased for £750. We spent £78 additional in making a large +room at the back of my own house, where I could meet the tenants from +time to time. The plan has now been in operation about a year and a +half; the financial result is that the scheme has paid 5 per cent. +interest on all the capital (it should be remembered that 5 per cent. +interest in England on house property is equivalent to at least 8 per +cent. in the United States), has repaid £48 of the capital; sets of two +rooms have been let for little more than the rent of one, the houses +have been kept in repair, all expenses have been met for taxes, +ground-rent and insurance. In this case there is no expense for +collecting rents, as I do it myself, finding it most important work; but +in all the estimates I put aside the usual percentage for it, in case +hereafter I may require help, and also to prove practically that it can +be afforded in other cases. It should be observed that well-built houses +were chosen, but they were in a dreadful state of dirt and neglect. The +repairs required were mainly of a superficial and slight character; +slight in regard to expense—vital as to health and comfort. The place +swarmed with vermin; the papers, black with dirt, hung in long strips +from the walls; the drains were stopped, the water supply out of order. +All these things were put in order, but no new appliances of any kind +were added, as we had determined that our tenants should wait for these +until they had proved themselves capable of taking care of them. A +regular sum is set aside for repairs, and this is equally divided +between the three houses; if any of it remains, after breakage and +damage have been repaired, at the end of the quarter, each tenant +decides in turn in what way the surplus shall be spent, so as to add to +the comfort of the house. This plan has worked admirably; the loss from +carelessness has decreased to an amazing extent, and the lodgers prize +the little comforts which they have waited for, and seem in a measure to +have earned by their care, much more than those bought with more lavish +expenditure. The bad debts during the whole time the plan has been in +operation have only amounted to £2 11s. 3d. Extreme punctuality and +diligence in collecting rents, and a strict determination that they +shall be paid regularly, have accomplished this; as a proof of which it +is curious to observe that £1 3s. 3d. of the bad debts accumulated +during two months that I was away in the country. I have tried to +remember, when it seemed hardest, that the fulfilment of their duties +was the best education for the tenants in every way. It has given them a +dignity and glad feeling of honourable behaviour which has much more +than compensated for the apparent harshness of the rule. + +Nothing has impressed me more than the people’s perception of an +underlying current of sympathy through all dealings that have seemed +harsh. Somehow, love and care have made themselves felt. It is also +wonderful that they should prize as they do the evenness of the law that +is over them. They are accustomed to alternate violence of passion and +toleration of vice. They expected a greater toleration, ignorant +indulgence and frequent almsgiving; but in spite of this have recognized +as a blessing a rule which is very strict, but the demands of which they +know, and a government which is true in word and deed. The plan of +substituting a lady for a resident landlady of the same class as her +tenants is not wholly gain. The lady will probably have subtler sympathy +and clearer comprehension of their needs, but she cannot give the same +minute supervision that a resident landlady can. Unhappily, the +advantage of such a change is, however, at present unquestionable. The +influence of the majority of the lower class of people who sublet to the +poor is almost wholly injurious. That tenants should be given up to the +dominion of those whose word is given and broken almost as a matter of +course, whose habits and standards are very low, whose passions are +violent, who have neither large hope nor clear sight, nor even sympathy, +is very sad. It seems to me that a greater power is in the hands of +landlords and landladies than of schoolteachers—power either of life or +death, physical or spiritual. It is not an unimportant question who +shall wield it. There are dreadful instances in which sin is really +tolerated and shared; where the lodger who will drink most with his +landlord is most favoured, and many a debt overlooked, to compensate for +which the price of rooms is raised; and thus the steady and sober pay +more rent to make up for losses caused by the unprincipled. + +With the great want of rooms there is in this neighbourhood it did not +seem right to expel families, however large, inhabiting one room. +Whenever from any cause a room was vacant and a large family occupied an +adjoining one, I have endeavoured to induce them to rent the two. To +incoming tenants I do not let what seems decidedly insufficient +accommodation. We have been able to let two rooms for four shillings and +sixpence, whereas the tenants were in many cases paying four shillings +for one. At first they considered it quite an unnecessary expenditure to +pay more rent for a second room, however small the additional sum might +be. They have gradually learnt to feel the comfort of having two rooms, +and pay willingly for them. (It is not possible to form any comparison +between the rent of rooms in London and New York, the circumstances of +the two cities being so different; but the point to be observed is that, +by a very small increase of rent, the amount of accommodation may be +doubled.) + +The pecuniary success of the plan has been due to two causes. First, to +the absence of middlemen; and, secondly, to great strictness about +punctual payment of rent. At this moment not one tenant in any of the +houses owes any rent, and during the whole time, as I have said, the bad +debts have been exceedingly small. The law respecting such tenancies +seems very simple, and when once the method of proceeding is understood, +the whole business is easily managed; and I must say most seriously that +I believe it to be better to pay legal expenses for getting rid of +tenants than to lose by arrears of rent—better for the whole tone of the +households, kinder to the tenants. The rule should be clearly understood +and the people will respect themselves for having obeyed it. The +commencement of proceedings which are known to be genuine and not a mere +threat is usually sufficient to obtain payment of arrears; in one case +only has an ejectment for rent been necessary. The great want of rooms +gives the possessors of such property immense power over their lodgers. +Let them see to it that they use it righteously. The fluctuations of +work cause to respectable tenants the main difficulties in paying their +rent. I have tried to help them in two ways. First, by inducing them to +save; this they have done steadily, and each autumn has found them with +a small fund accumulated, which has enabled them to meet the +difficulties of the time when families are out of town. In the second +place, I have done what I could to employ my tenants in slack seasons. I +carefully set aside any work they can do for times of scarcity, and I +try so to equalize in this small circle the irregularity of work, which +must be more or less pernicious, and which the childishness of the poor +makes doubly so. They have strangely little power of looking forward; a +result is to them as nothing if it will not be perceptible till next +quarter! This is very curious to me, especially as seen in connection +with that large hope to which I have alluded, and which often makes me +think that if I could I would carve over the houses the motto, “Spem, +etiam illi habent, quibus nihil aliud restat.” + +Another beautiful trait in their character is their trust; it has been +quite marvellous to find how great and how ready this is. In no single +case have I met with suspicion or with anything but entire confidence. + +It is needless to say that there have been many minor difficulties and +disappointments. Each separate person who has failed to rise and meet +the help that would have been so gladly given has been a distinct loss +to me; for somehow the sense of relation to them has been a very real +one, and a feeling of interest and responsibility has been very strong, +even where there was least that was lovely or lovable in the particular +character. When they have not had sufficient energy or self-control to +choose the sometimes hard path that has seemed the only right one, it +would have been hard to part from them, except for a hope that others +would be able to lead them where I have failed. + +Two distinct kinds of work depend entirely on one another if they are to +bear their full fruit. There is, firstly, the simple fulfilment of a +landlady’s bounden duties, and uniform demand of the fulfilment of those +of the tenants. We have felt ourselves bound by laws which must be +obeyed, however hard obedience might often be. Then, secondly, there is +the individual friendship which has grown up from intimate knowledge and +from a sense of dependence and protection. Knowledge gives power to see +the real position of families; to suggest in time the inevitable result +of certain habits; to urge such measures as shall secure the education +of the children and their establishment in life; to keep alive the germs +of energy; to waken the gentler thought; to refuse resolutely to give +any help but such as rouses self-help; to cherish the smallest lingering +gleam of self-respect; and, finally, to be near with strong help should +the hour of trial fall suddenly and heavily, and to give it with the +hand and heart of a real old friend, who has filled many relations +besides that of almsgiver, who has long ago given far more than material +help, and has thus earned the right to give this lesser to the most +independent spirits. + + + + + III + BLANK COURT + (1871) + + +How this relation between landlord and tenant might be established in +some of the lowest districts of London, and with what results, I am +about to describe by relating what has been done in the last two years +in Blank Court. + +In many of the houses the dustbins were utterly unapproachable, and +cabbage-leaves, stale fish and every sort of dirt were lying in the +passages and on the stairs; in some the back kitchen had been used as a +dustbin, but had not been emptied for years, and the dust filtered +through into the front kitchens, which were the sole living and sleeping +rooms of some families; in some, the kitchen stairs were many inches +thick with dirt, which was so hardened that a shovel had to be used to +get it off; in some there was hardly any water to be had; the wood was +eaten away, and broken away; windows were smashed, and the rain was +coming through the roofs. At night it was still worse; and during the +first winter I had to collect the rents chiefly then, as the +inhabitants, being principally costermongers, were out nearly all day, +and they were afraid to entrust their rent to their neighbours. It was +then that I saw the houses in their most dreadful aspect. I well +remember wet, foggy Monday nights, when I turned down the dingy court, +past the brilliantly lighted public-house at the corner, past the old +furniture outside the shops, and dived into the dark, yawning +passage-ways. The front doors stood open day and night, and as I felt my +way down the kitchen stairs, broken, and rounded by the hardened mud +upon them, the foul smells which the heavy, foggy air would not allow to +rise met me as I descended, and the plaster rattled down as I groped +along. It was truly appalling to think that there were human beings who +lived habitually in such an atmosphere, with such surroundings. +Sometimes I had to open the kitchen door myself, after knocking several +times in vain, when a woman, quite drunk, would be lying on the floor on +some black mass which served as a bed; sometimes, in answer to my +knocks, a half-drunken man would swear, and thrust the rent-money out to +me through a chink of the door, placing his foot against it so as to +prevent it opening wide enough to admit me. Always it would be shut +again without a light being offered to guide me up the pitch-dark +stairs. Such was Blank Court in the winter of 1869. Truly, a wild, +lawless, desolate little kingdom to come to rule over. + +On what principles was I to rule these people? On the same as I had +already tried, and tried with success, in other places, and which I may +sum up as the two following: firstly, to demand a strict fulfilment of +their duties to me—one of the chief of which would be the punctual +payment of rent; and secondly, to endeavour to be so unfailingly just +and patient that they should learn to trust the rule that was over them. + +With regard to details, I would make a few improvements at once, such, +for example, as the laying on of water and repairing of dustbins; but, +for the most part, improvements should be made only by degrees, as the +people became more capable of valuing them and not abusing them. I would +have the rooms distempered and thoroughly cleansed as they became +vacant, and then they should be offered to the more cleanly of the +tenants. I would have such repairs as were not immediately needed used +as a means of giving work to the men in times of distress. I would draft +the occupants of the underground kitchens into the upstairs rooms, and +would ultimately convert the kitchens into bathrooms and washhouses. I +would have the landlady’s portion of the house—i.e. the stairs and +passages—at once repaired and distempered, and they should be regularly +scrubbed, and, as far as possible, made models of cleanliness, for I +knew, from former experience, that the example of this would, in time, +silently spread itself to the rooms themselves, and that payment for +this work would give me some hold over the older girls. I would collect +savings personally, not trust to their being taken to distant banks or +savings clubs. And, finally, I knew that I should learn to feel these +people as my friends, and so should instinctively feel the same respect +for their privacy and their independence, and should treat them with the +same courtesy that I should show towards any other personal friends. +There would be no interference, no entering their rooms uninvited, no +offer of money or the necessaries of life. But when occasion presented +itself I should give them any help I could, such as I might offer +without insult to other friends—sympathy in their distresses; advice, +help and counsel in their difficulties; introductions that might be of +use to them; means of education; visits to the country; a lent book when +not able to work; a bunch of flowers brought on purpose; an invitation +to any entertainment, in a room built at the back of my own house, which +would be likely to give them pleasure. I am convinced that one of the +evils of much that is done for the poor springs from the want of +delicacy felt, and courtesy shown, towards them, and that we cannot +beneficially help them in any spirit different to that in which we help +those who are better off. The help may differ in amount, because their +needs are greater. It should not differ in kind. + +I have learned to know that people are ashamed to abuse a place they +find cared for. They will add dirt to dirt till a place is pestilential, +but the more they find done for it, the more they will respect it, till +at last order and cleanliness prevail. It is this feeling of theirs, +coupled with the fact that they do not like those whom they have learned +to love, and whose standard is higher than their own, to see things +which would grieve them, which has enabled us to accomplish nearly every +reform of outward things that we have achieved; so that the surest way +to have any place kept clean is to go through it often yourself. + +Amongst the many benefits which the possession of the houses enables us +to confer on the people, perhaps one of the most important is our power +of saving them from neighbours who would render their lives miserable. +It is a most merciful thing to protect the poor from the pain of living +in the next room to drunken, disorderly people. “I am dying,” said an +old woman to me the other day; “I wish you would put me where I can’t +hear S—— beating his wife. Her screams are awful. And B—— too, he do +come in so drunk. Let me go over the way to No. 30.” Our success depends +on duly arranging the inmates; not too many children in any one house, +so as to overcrowd it; not too few, so as to overcrowd another; not two +bad people side by side, or they drink together; not a terribly bad +person beside a very respectable one. + +It appears to me, then, to be proved by practical experience that when +we can induce the rich to undertake the duties of landlords in poor +neighbourhoods, and ensure a sufficient amount of the wise, personal +supervision of educated and sympathetic people acting as their +representatives, we achieve results which are not attainable in any +other way. I would call upon those who may possess cottage property in +large towns to consider the immense power they thus hold in their hands +and the large influence for good they may exercise by the wise use of +that power. When they have to delegate it to others, let them take care +to whom they commit it; and let them beware lest, through the widely +prevailing system of subletting, this power ultimately abide with those +who have neither the will nor the knowledge which would enable them to +use it beneficially. + +It is on these things and their faithful execution that the life of the +whole matter depends, and by which steady progress is ensured. It is the +smaller things of the world that colour the lives of those around us, +and it is on persistent efforts to reform these that progress depends; +and we may rest assured that they who see with greater eyes than ours +have a due estimate of the service, and that if we did but perceive the +mighty principles underlying these tiny things we should rather feel +awed that we are entrusted with them at all, than scornful and impatient +that they are no larger. What are we that we should ask for more than +that God should let us work for Him among the tangible things which He +created to be fair and the human which He redeemed to be pure? From time +to time He lifts a veil and shows us, even while we struggle with +imperfections here below, that towards which we are working—shows us +how, by governing and ordering the tangible things one by one, we may +make of this earth a fair dwelling-place. And, far better still, how, by +cherishing human beings, He will let us help Him in His work of building +up temples meet for Him to dwell in—faint images of that best Temple of +all which He promised that He would raise up on the third day, though +men might destroy it. + + + + + IV + THE INFLUENCE OF MODEL DWELLINGS UPON CHARACTER + (1892) + + +As it now seems fairly clear that the working population of London is +likely to be more and more housed in “blocks,” it is not very profitable +to spend time in considering whether this is a fact to rejoice in or to +deplore, except so far as the consideration may enable us to see how far +the advantages of the change may be increased or the drawbacks +diminished. The advantages of the change are very apparent and are apt +to appear overwhelming, and the disadvantages are apt to be dismissed as +somewhat sentimental or inevitable. I have, however, little to say upon +advantages. They may, I think, be briefly summed up under two heads. It +is supposed that better sanitary arrangements are secured in blocks. It +is also certain that all inspection and regulation are easier in blocks; +and on inspection and regulation much of our modern legislation, much of +our popular hope is based. + +With regard to the sanitary arrangements, I think all who are at all +conversant with the subject are beginning to be aware that these at +least may be as faulty in blocks as in smaller buildings; but it is +undoubtedly true that even where this is so, the publicity of the block +enables inspection to be carried out much more easily, and so, +theoretically at least, a certain standard can be enforced. And though +this is not quite so true in actual practice as those who put their +faith in enforcement of sanitary law are apt to imagine, still it is +true, and it is a very distinct advantage to be noted. + +Your readers may be astonished that I do not put down the greater +economy of the block system as a distinct gain, but I am not so wholly +sure as may seem that it exists. For, first, room by room the block +dwellings are not at all invariably cheaper than those in small houses. +Moreover, I think we can hardly permit, and assuredly cannot permanently +congratulate and pride ourselves upon, a form of construction which +admits so very little sunlight into lower floors. So that to the present +cost of block buildings must, I should think, be fairly added in the +future such diminution of height or such increase of yard space as would +allow of the freer entrance of air and light. This would increase the +ground-rent payable on each room. I think also that the cheapness of +erecting many-storied buildings is exaggerated. I have built very few +blocks, but I have been consulted about some, and I have more than once +proved in £ s. d. that cutting off a story from the block as shown in +the plans was a very small net loss, when cost of building, saving on +rates, repairs, etc., and possibly even diminution in wall thickness, +justified by the lower elevation, were taken into account. We must also +remember the increase of rent gladly paid by the sober and home-loving +man for ground-floor rooms lighter and pleasanter than if overshadowed +by high blocks. I do not wish to generalize—the matter is one of £ s. +d.—but I say that the figures are well worth careful study on each +building scheme, and that, as far as the model dwellings are concerned, +I think their undue height in proportion to width of yard has sometimes +been due to the mistaken zeal for accommodating numbers of families. I +say mistaken, for with our increased means of cheap transit we should +try to scatter rather than to concentrate our population, especially if +the concentration has to be secured by dark lower rooms. + +With regard to the disadvantages of blocks, I think they may be divided +into those which may be looked upon, by such of us as are hopeful, as +probably transitory, and those which seem, so far as we can see, quite +essential to the block system. The transitory ones are by far the most +serious. They are those which depend on the enormously increasing evil +which grows up in a huge community of those who are undisciplined and +untrained. They disappear with civilization; they are, so far as I know, +entirely absent in large groups of blocks where the tenants are the +quiet, respectable working-class families who, to use a phrase common in +London, “keep themselves to themselves,” and whose well-ordered, quiet +little homes, behind their neat little doors with bright knockers, +nicely supplied with well-chosen appliances, now begin to form groups +where responsible, respectable citizens live in cleanliness and order. +Under rules they grow to think natural and reasonable, inspected and +disciplined, every inhabitant registered and known, School Board laws +and laws of the landlord or company regularly enforced, every infectious +case of illness instantly removed, all disinfecting done at public cost, +is developed a life of law, regular, a little monotonous, and not +encouraging any great individuality, but consistent with happy home +life, and it promises to be the life of the respectable London working +man. + +On the other hand, what life in blocks is to the less self-controlled +hardly any words of mine are strong enough to describe, and it is +abhorred accordingly by the tidy and striving, wherever any—even a small +number—of the undisciplined are admitted to blocks, or where, being +admitted, there is no real living rule exercised. Regulations are of +small avail; no public inspection can possibly, for more than an hour or +two, secure order; no resident superintendent has at once conscience, +nerve and devotion single-handed to stem the violence, the dirt, the +noise, the quarrels; no body of public opinion on the part of the +tenants themselves asserts itself: one by one the tidier ones depart +disheartened, the rampant remain and prevail, and often, though with a +very fair show to the outsider, the block becomes a sort of pandemonium. +No one who is not in and out day by day, or, better still, night after +night; no one who does not watch the swift degradation of children +belonging to tidy families; no one who does not know the terrorism +exercised by the rough over the timid and industrious poor; no one who +does not know the abuse of every appliance provided by the benevolent or +speculative but non-resident landlord, can tell what life in blocks is +where the population is low class. Sinks and drains are stopped; yards +provided for exercise must be closed because of misbehaviour; boys bathe +in the drinking-water cisterns; washhouses on staircases—or staircases +themselves—become the nightly haunt of the vicious, the Sunday gambling +places of boys; the yell of the drunkard echoes through the hollow +passages; the stairs are blocked by dirty children, and the life of any +decent hard-working family becomes intolerable. + +The very same evils are nothing like as injurious where the families are +more separate, so that, while in smaller houses one can often try +difficult tenants with real hope of their doing better, it is wholly +impossible usually to try (or to train) them in blocks. The temptations +are greater, the evils of relapse are far greater. It is like taking a +bad girl into a school. Hence the enormous importance of keeping a large +number of small houses wherever possible for the better training of the +rowdy and the protection of the quiet and gentle; and I would implore +well-meaning landlords to pause before they clear away small houses and +erect blocks, with any idea of benefiting the poorer class of people. +The change may be inevitable, it may have to come, but as they value the +life of our poorer fellow-citizens, let them pause before they throw +them into a corporate life for which they are not ready, and which will, +so far as I can see, not train them to be ready for it. Let them either +ask tidy working people they know, or learn for themselves, whether I am +not right in saying that in the shabbiest little two-, four-, six- or +eight-roomed house, with all the water to carry upstairs, with one +little w.c. in a tiny backyard, with perhaps one dustbin at the end of +the court, and even, perhaps, with a dark little twisted staircase, +there are not far happier, better, yes, and healthier homes than in the +blocks where lower-class people share and do not keep in order far +better appliances. + +And let them look the deeper into this in so far as our reformers who +trust to inspection for all education, our would-be philanthropists or +newspaper correspondents who visit a court or block once and think they +have seen it, even our painstaking statisticians who catalogue what can +be catalogued, are unable to deal with these facts. Those who know the +life of the poor know—those who watch the effect of letting to a given +family a set of rooms in a block in a rough neighbourhood, or rooms in a +small house in the same district, know—those who remember how numerous +are the kinds of people to whom they must refuse rooms in a block for +their own sake, or that of others, know. To the noisy drunkard one must +say, “For the quiet people’s sake, No”; to the weak drunkard one must +say, “You would get led away, No”; to the young widow with children one +must say, “Would not you be better in a small house where the resident +landlady would see a little to the children?” thinking in one’s heart +also, “and to you.” For the orphaned factory girl who would “like to +keep mother’s home together” one feels a less public life safer; for the +quiet family who care to bring up their children well one fears the bad +language and gambling on the stairs. For the strong and self-contained +and self-reliant it may be all right, but the instinct of the others who +cling on to the smaller houses is right for them. + +For, after all, the “home”—the “life”—does not depend on the number of +appliances, or even in any deep sense on the sanitary arrangements. I +heard a workman once say, with some coarseness but with much truth, +“Gentlemen think if they put a water-closet to every room they have made +a home of it,” and the remark often recurs to me for the element of +truth there is in it, and there is more decency in many a tiny little +cottage in Southwark, shabby as it may be—more family life in many a one +room let to a family—than in many a populous block. And this is due +partly to the comparative peace of the more separate home: for it seems +as if a certain amount of quiet and even of isolation made family life +and neighbourly kindness more possible. People become brutal in large +numbers who are gentle when they are in smaller groups and know one +another, and the life in a block only becomes possible when there is a +deliberate isolation of the family and a sense of duty with respect to +all that is in common. The low-class people herd on the staircases and +corrupt one another, where those a little higher would withdraw into +their little sanctum. But in their own little house, or as lodgers in a +small house, the lower-class people get the individual feeling and +notice which often trains them in humanity. + +Whatever may be the way out of the difficulty, let us hope that it may +come before great evil is done by the massing together of herds of +untrained people, and by the ghastly abuse of staircases, open all night +but not under public inspection, not easily inspected even if nominally +so placed. The problem is one we ought all, so far as in us lies, to lay +to heart and do what we can to solve. I have not dwelt here on what may +be called the “sentimental” objections to blocks. The first is the small +scope they give for individual freedom. The second is their painful +ugliness and uninterestingness in external look, which is nearly always +connected with the first. For difference is at least interesting and +amusing, monotony never. Let us hope that when we have secured our +drainage, our cubic space of air, our water on every floor, we may have +time to live in our homes, to think how to make them pretty, each in our +own way, and to let the individual characteristics they take from our +life in them be all good, as well as healthy and beautiful, because all +human life and work were surely meant to be like all Divine creations, +lovely as well as good. + + + + + V + SMALL HOUSES IN LONDON + (1886) + + +“Land is too valuable in London for us to build cottages, we must have +blocks.” Let that be granted for the moment; but that does not preclude +those who own such cottages from keeping them where they are built. And +I wish that any words of mine might avail with even one such owner, to +induce him to pause and consider, very seriously, whether, at any rate +for a time, he might not manage to drain and improve water supply and +roofs, and thoroughly clean such old buildings, instead of sweeping them +away. As to cost, the cottages are far more valuable than the cleared +space; as to health, they may be made, at a small cost, far more healthy +than any but the very best constructed and best managed blocks. As to +the life possible in them—of which the charitable and reforming and +legislating bodies know so little—it is incomparably happier and better. +Let us keep them while we can. + +And suppose we grant that London is coming to block buildings, and must +come to them; the preservation of the cottages gives time for the +question of management to be studied and perfected. The improvement may +come from the training and subsequent employment of ladies like my own +fellow-workers, under the directors of large companies and in +conjunction with good resident superintendents. Or it may come from the +co-operation of a consultative body of good tenants, to assist the +managers. Or it may come by the steady improvement of the main body of +the roughest tenants, making them gradually fitted to use things in +common. But, seeing in all classes how difficult it is to get anything +cared for which is used in common, unless there be some machinery for +its management, I think this latter remedy should rather be counted on +as making the work easier than as sufficient in itself. While I am on +this subject, may I remark that it would be well if those who build +blocks would consider, in settling their plans, what machinery they are +mainly trusting to for securing good order? + + + + + VI + LETTERS TO FELLOW-WORKERS + + +In 1872 Miss Octavia Hill began the practice of writing at the end of +each year a letter which was sent to all who were associated with her in +her work. The following are some selections: + + + WORK UNDER THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS. + +LETTER OF 1902.—During the past year the Ecclesiastical Commissioners +asked us to take charge of some of their property, of which the leases +fell in, in Southwark and Lambeth. + +In Southwark the area had been leased long ago on the old-fashioned +tenure of “lives.” That is, it was held not for a specified term of +years, but subject to the life of certain persons. The lease fell in, +therefore, quite suddenly, and fifty of the houses, which were occupied +by working people, were placed under my care. I had only four days’ +notice before I had to begin collecting. It was well for us that my +fellow-workers rose to the occasion and at once undertook the added +duties; well, too, that we were then pretty strong in workers. It was a +curious Monday’s work. The houses having been let and sublet, I could be +furnished with few particulars. I had a map and the numbers of the +houses, which were scattered in various streets over the five acres +which had reverted to the Commissioners, but I had no tenant’s name nor +the rental of any tenement, nor did the tenants know or recognize the +written authority, having long paid to other landlords. I subdivided the +area geographically between my two principal South London workers, and I +went to every house, accompanied by one or other of them. I learnt the +name of the tenant, explained the circumstances, saw their books and +learnt their rental, and finally succeeded in obtaining every rent. Many +of the houses required much attention, and since then we have been +busily employed in supervising necessary repairs. The late lessees were +liable for dilapidations, and I felt once more how valuable to us it was +to represent owners like the Commissioners, for all this legal and +surveying work was done ably by responsible and qualified men of +business, while we were free to go in and out among the tenants, watch +details, report grievous defects, decide what repairs essential to +health should be done instantly. We have not half done all this, but we +are steadily progressing. + +The very same day the Commissioners sent to me about this sudden +accession of work in Southwark, they asked me whether I could also take +over one hundred and sixty houses in Lambeth. I had known that this +lease was falling in to them, and I knew that they proposed rebuilding +for working people on some seven acres there, and would consult me about +this. But I had no idea that they meant to ask me to take charge of the +old cottages pending the rebuilding. However, we were able to undertake +this, and it will be a very great advantage to us to get to know the +tenants, the locality, the workers in the neighbourhood, before the +great decisions about rebuilding are made. In this case I had the +advantage of going round with the late lessee, who gave me names, +rentals and particulars, and whose relations with his late tenants +struck me as very satisfactory and human. On this area our main duties +have been to induce tenants to pay who knew that their houses were +coming down (in this we have succeeded), to decide those difficult +questions of what to repair in houses soon to be destroyed, to empty one +portion of the area where cottages are first to be built, providing +accommodation elsewhere so far as is possible, and to arrange the +somewhat complicated minute details as to rates and taxes payable for +cottages partly empty, temporarily empty, on assessments which had all +to be ascertained, and where certain rates in certain houses for certain +times only were payable by the owners whom we represent. + +LETTER OF 1903.—The past year has brought one very large expansion of +our work, larger than that of any previous year; and it is started on +independent lines, in a way which gives hope for future growth. The +Ecclesiastical Commissioners wrote to tell me in the autumn that an area +in South London containing twenty-two acres, and with between five +hundred and six hundred houses on it, was falling in to them at the +expiration of a long lease, and they asked me to undertake the +management of the property. Bearing in mind what they themselves had +said as to providing for the continuity of such work, and with a deep +desire not to lose near touch with my own old tenants, workers and +places, if I spread my time over still larger areas, I set myself to +think whether this new work might not be started from a new centre, and +have been fortunate enough to be able to recommend a lady of great power +and experience, who consents to undertake this new property, with direct +responsibility to the Commissioners. + +It was a huge undertaking, and needed much care and labour to start it +well, and naturally we were all keen to help. It was a great day when we +took over the place. Our seconds-in-command took command manfully for a +fortnight of all our old courts, and fourteen of us met on Monday, +October 5th, to take over the estate and collect from five hundred to +six hundred tenants wholly unknown to us. We organized it all +thoughtfully; we had fifteen collecting books and all the tenants’ books +prepared, opened a bank account, found a room as an office, and divided +the area among the workers. Our first duty was to get the tenants to +recognize our authority and pay us. I think we were very successful; we +got every tenant on the estate to pay us without any legal process, +except one who was a regular scamp. We collected some £250, most of it +in silver, and got it safely to the bank. Then came the question of +repairs; there were written in the first few weeks one thousand orders +for these, although, as the whole area is to be rebuilt, we were only +doing actually urgent and no substantial ones. All these had to be +overlooked and reported on and paid for. Next came pouring in the claims +for borough and water rates. We had to ascertain the assessments of +every house, the facts as to whether landlord or tenant was responsible, +whether the rates were compounded for or not, what allowance was to be +claimed for empty houses or rooms. There were two Water Companies +supplying the area, and we had to learn which supplied each house. + +The whole place was to be rebuilt, and even the streets rearranged and +widened, and I had promised the Commissioners I would advise them as to +the future plans. These had to be prepared at the earliest date +possible, the more so as the sanitary authorities were pressing, and +sent in one hundred orders in the first few days we were there. It is +needless to say with what speed, capacity and zeal the representatives +of the Commissioners carried on their part of these preparations, and +they rapidly decided on which streets should be first rebuilt. But this +only implied more to be done, for we had to empty the streets swiftly, +and that meant patching up all possible empty houses in other streets +and moving the tenants into them. Fortunately, there were several houses +empty, the falling in of the leases having scared some people away. The +Commissioners had decided to close all the public-houses on the estate, +and we let one to a girls’ club, and had to put repairs in hand to fit +it for its changed destination. + +The matter now stands thus: we have got through the first quarter; have +collected £2,672, mostly in silver; the quarter’s accounts are nearly +ready to send in; we have completed the most pressing repairs; have +emptied two streets, and plans for rebuilding them are decided on; +tenders have been accepted for these, and they have been begun. Plans +have been prepared for rebuilding and rearrangement of the whole estate, +and these are now before the Commissioners for their consideration. They +provide a site for rebuilding the parish school, an area of about an +acre as a public recreation ground, the substitution of four wide for +three narrow streets, and afford accommodation for 790 families in +four-roomed and six-roomed cottages, cottage flats, and flats of three- +and two-roomed tenements in houses in no case higher than three stories. + +But there remains one most important point still under the consideration +of the Commissioners. It is whether this domain is to be leased to +builders and managed by them and their successors for some eighty years +or whether it is to remain under the direct control of the +Commissioners. All of you who know anything of how much depends on +management will realize how earnestly I trust that they may decide to +retain the area, and may feel confident of finding representatives in +the future to manage it for them on sound financial principles and in +the best interests of tenants and landlords. Those who know what a +country landlord can do in a village will realize the influence of wise +government in such an area. This land is Church land, it adjoins the +parish church, it is quite near the Talbot Settlement, established by, +and named after, the Bishop of the diocese; surely it should not pass +from the control of the owners. If clauses in leases were as wisely +planned and as strongly enforced as possible, they could still not be +like the living government of wise owners, and since needs and standards +are for ever altering, many decisions involving change during the next +eighty years may be desirable. + + + PAYMENT OF RATES BY TENANTS. + +LETTER OF 1894.—In all these new cottages I am introducing the plan of +arranging that the tenants should pay their own rates, the rent being +fixed much lower to enable them to do this. + +The plan of making weekly tenants responsible for rates is very +difficult to work; not being general, the machinery and arrangements do +not help us. But I have felt it to be very important, as well as to be +worth a great effort. It may be that some of those in authority will +realize its value and that we may get some help in time. What would +conduce most to make the plan succeed would be that some allowance +should be made for tenants paying their rates in advance, analogous to, +though not naturally so great as, that made to landlords who compound: +also that by some means the various payments might be spread over the +year, falling due at different quarters. This would go far to mitigate +the difficulty for working people of paying a lump sum down twice a +year, as is demanded in some London parishes. Weekly or fortnightly +collection, which I hear is arranged for in Edinburgh, would manifestly +be more costly, but our tenants would manage a quarterly payment pretty +easily. However, at present there is no hope of any modification of +existing arrangements, and we must do our best to fit in with the +present regulations in the several parishes. I hope that, if we lead the +van, others will follow, and co-operation may come in time from +officials. All newly elected vestrymen might, meantime, do well to try +to secure that fuller facts should be inserted on claims and receipts. +The words “made,” “due” and “payable” are used in a way not always clear +to the ratepayer, while the option of paying in separate instalments is +often not shown clearly on the claims. + +This subject, however, is somewhat technical, and I only refer to it +here because it is interesting me deeply. I think it would tend towards +municipal economy, likely to tell to the advantage of the time to come. + + + GARDENS IN LONDON. + +LETTER OF 1875.—When I look at the unused bits of ground around a farm +or cottage, I sometimes think what they would be worth at the back of a +London house. + +But even in the front of their houses in a London court, are the poor +much better off? I go sometimes on a hot summer evening into a narrow +court, with houses on each side. The sun has heated them all day, until +it has driven nearly every inmate out of doors. Those who are not at the +public-house are standing or sitting on their doorsteps, quarrelsome, +hot, dirty; the children are crawling or sitting on the hard, hot +stones, till every corner of the place looks alive. Everyone looks in +everyone else’s way; the place echoes with words not of the gentlest. +Sometimes on such a hot summer’s evening, in such a court, when I am +trying to calm excited women shouting their execrable language at one +another, I have looked up suddenly and seen one of those bright gleams +of light the summer sun sends out just before he sets, catching the top +of a red chimney-pot, and beautiful there, though too directly above +their heads for the crowd below to notice it much. But to me it brings +sad thought of the fair and quiet places far away, where it is falling +softly on tree and hill and cloud, and I feel that that quiet, that +beauty, that space would be more powerful to calm the wild excess about +me than all my frantic striving with it. + +Leicester Square shows us another thing: such places must be made +bright, pretty and neat—a small place which is not so becomes painfully +dreary; it is quite curious to notice how little one feels shut in when +the barriers are lovely, or contain beautiful things which the eye can +rest on. The small enclosed leads which too often bound the view of a +back dining-room in London oppress one like the walls of a prison; but a +tiny cloistered court of the same size will give a sense of repose; and +colour introduced into such spaces will give them such beauty as will +prevent one from fretting against the boundaries. Strange and beautiful +instance this of how—if we recognize the limitations appointed for us, +accept them, and deal well with what is given—the passionate longing for +more is taken away and a great peace hallows all. + + + THE WORKERS. + +LETTER OF 1900.—I have been thinking a great deal about how responsible +bodies can, in the future, secure such management by trained ladies as +has been found helpful in the past. This has turned my attention much +more than heretofore to the thought of how to provide more responsible +professional workers, for I feel that, however much volunteers may help, +it is only to professional workers that responsible and continuous +duties can, as a rule, be entrusted, especially by large owners or +corporations. + +Up to now my professional workers have been among my most zealous and +selfless colleagues, always ready to take onerous duties, to fill vacant +places, to slip out of the way and go to new fields when it seemed best, +always ready to help to train others for management in houses, whether +in London, the provincial towns, Scotland, Ireland, America, Holland, or +any other place from which work came, taking their holidays, when best +they could be spared, and in every way proving themselves true helpers +by their hearty recognition that what we had to do was to teach, +initiate and supplement as many earnest workers as we could. What I owe +to them in the past for the devoted help they have thus rendered for now +many years, no one will ever know. + +But hitherto I or some tried and experienced volunteer have been the +responsible person to whom private owners, or men of business or +corporations have entrusted their houses; and it is we who have reported +upon all business. As a matter of fact, as you all know, we have put all +management on a business footing, and with few exceptions have charged +the owners the ordinary 5 per cent. on rental usually paid to +collectors. + +Thinking over all this with regard to the further future and to the +larger areas that we can cover, it seemed to me that the present plan +had its limitations. Even if many more such leaders were found, how +would they be known? Could responsible bodies make plans dependent on +them? Then I realized that my best plan for the future would be not only +to train such volunteers as offered and the professional workers whom we +required, but to train more professional workers than we ourselves can +use, and, as occasion offers, to introduce them to owners wishing to +retain small tenements in their own hands and to be represented in them +by a kind of manager not hitherto existing. The ordinary collector is +not a man of education, with time to spare, nor does he estimate that +his duties comprise much beyond a call at the doors for rent brought +down to him and a certain supervision of repairs that are asked for. If +there existed a body of ladies trained to more thorough work, qualified +to supervise more minutely, likely to enter into such details as bear on +the comfort of home life, they might be entrusted by owners with house +property. We all can remember how the training of nurses and of teachers +has raised the standard of work required in both professions. The same +change might be hoped for in the character of the management of +dwellings let to the poor. Whether or no volunteers co-operated with +them would settle itself. At any rate, owners could have, as I have told +them they should have, besides their lawyer to advise them as to law, +their architect as to large questions of buildings, their auditor to +supervise their accounts, also a representative to see to their people +and to those details of repair and management on which the conduct of +courts or blocks inhabited by working people depends. Where people live +close together, share yards, washhouses and staircases, too often there +is no one whose business it is to supervise and govern the use of what +is used in common or to see how one tenant’s conduct affects others. + + + THE WORK. + +LETTER OF 1879.—I should like, in my letter this year, to note down what +it appears to me you are all feeling as to the difference between the +charge of a court where the people are your tenants and much other +visiting among the poor. The care of tenants calls out a sense of duty +founded on relationship; the work is permanent, and the definite +character of much of it makes its progress marked. Have you ever asked +yourselves why you have chosen the charge of courts, with all its +difficulties and ties? The burthen of the problems before you has been +heavy, and the regularity of the occupation has often demanded of you +great sacrifices. Why have you not chosen transitory connection with +hundreds of receivers of soup, or pleasant intercourse with little +Sunday scholars, or visiting among the aged and bedridden, who were sure +to greet you with a smile when you went to them and had no right to say +a word of reproach to you about your long absences in the country? Why +did you not take up district-visiting, where, if any family did not +welcome you, you could just stay away? Because you preferred a work +where duty was continuous and distinct and where it was mutual. Because, +also, the petty annoyances brought before you at such awkward moments, +with so little discretion or good-temper—the smoky chimneys, broken +water-pipes, tiresome neighbours, drunken husbands—as well as the great +sorrows caused by death, disease, poverty, sin, have called not only for +your sympathy but for your action. From the greatest to the least, the +problems have implied some duty on your part. You have each had to ask +yourself, “What ought I, in my relation to the tenants, to do for them +in this difficulty?” From the merest trifle of a cupboard key broken in +the lock to the future of some family desolated by death, or sunk in +misery through drink, _all_ has asked your sympathy, much has demanded +your action. I have said the charge of tenants has been valued by you +also because the duty is mutual: it implies your determination, not +simply to do kindnesses with liberal hand, popular as that would be, but +to meet the poor on grounds where they too have duties to you. + + + SPIRIT OF THE WORK. + +LETTER OF 1890.—I will not in this, which is my one letter of the year +to you, my friends and fellow-workers, enter on the great public +questions which are attracting an ever-increasing degree of interest. + +Whatever be done about free meals, free education (why do we call them +free, instead of paid for by charity, by rates, or by tax, do you +think?)—whatever may happen about strikes or immigration from the +country—for you and me there remain much the same great eternal duties, +love, thought, justice, liberality, simplicity, hope, industry, for +ever; still human heart depends on human heart for sympathy, and still +the old duties of neighbourliness continue. Let us see that we fulfil +them, each in our own circle, large or small; perhaps we may find the +fulfilment of them answer more social problems than we quite expected. +Perhaps we may find changes of system effect little reform unless +courageous and honest men carry them out with single-mindedness and +thought for others. + +If the free meal, free education, subsidized house accommodation attract +you, will you pause and remember, first, that they are by no means free, +but cost someone, somehow, just as much, probably a great deal more, +than if provided otherhow? The question, if you get rid of the word +“free,” which is deceptive, clears up a little, and becomes, “Is this +the best way of, first, providing, and second, paying for these +necessities?” + +And then, having answered this for yourself, see to it that you are +wholly single-minded if you advocate this sort of subsidy for the poor. +Be sure you do so neither from cowardice nor from ambition. If, indeed, +it be pity, genuine kindness and a sense of justice that moves you, then +the feeling is so good that in some way I believe it will lead you +right; besides, you will keep your power to watch and see and alter as +you come face to face with facts, and may modify all systems, and keep +the desire to do justice and help in whatever way is seen finally to be +really helpful. + +But if you let one touch of terror dim your sight and flinch before the +most terrible upheaval of rampant force or threat; if, for popular +favour, or seat at board, or success on platform, you hesitate to speak +what you know to be true, then shall your cowardice and your ambition be +indeed answerable for consequences which you little dream of. They may +come now, or they may come later, but come they will; for only Truth +abides and will stand the test of time. Let us see that we hold her very +fast; only those who are loyal to her can. + + + + + VII + WOMEN MANAGERS—A CROWN ESTATE[2] + + +Footnote 2: + + Reprinted from _Housing_, the official journal of the Ministry of + Health, September 27, 1919, by kind permission of the Controller, H.M. + Stationery Office. + + +A scheme of reconstruction which should be of interest to local +authorities about to exercise the new powers conferred upon them by the +Housing Act has been undertaken by the Office of Woods on a London +estate near Regent’s Park, belonging to the Crown. + +The area in question lies to the east of Albany Street. It forms part of +an estate, known as the “Marylebone Farm,” which about a hundred years +ago was leased by the Office of Woods principally for residential +purposes, ample provision being made in the type of building for all +classes. The estate includes the Cumberland Basin, connected with the +Regent’s Canal; Cumberland Market, an ancient market for the sale of hay +and straw; and two other open spaces. The Market is now seldom used, but +it is still paved with setts and furnished with a weighing-house. The +other two spaces are squares, laid out with trees and shrubs, and are +managed by the London County Council. + +During the last year or two many of the leases of property of the +tenement class have fallen in, and others, which are not yet quite due, +have been surrendered by the owners in preference to putting the houses +into repair. + +With the gradual falling in of the leases the Office of Woods were faced +with the question whether the site was again to be let on lease or +whether it was to be held and managed on behalf of the Crown. The latter +course was happily decided upon, and it was resolved to place the +property immediately under the care of Miss Jeffery, an experienced +house-property manager, trained under Miss Octavia Hill’s system, who +has under her a staff of trained women. + +The plan of reconstruction, which includes rebuilding most of the houses +and altering the course of some of the streets, is being prepared by the +Office of Woods. It is intended to convert Cumberland Market into a +public garden and to form one or more children’s playgrounds in +addition. + +Rebuilding is hardly to be thought of for the moment. The immediate need +is to make the existing houses reasonably fit for habitation. Most of +them are dilapidated and some of them are filthy. Backyards have been +built over, and in some instances another cottage has been put up, the +only entrance to which is through the house which faces the street. The +property has been for the most part badly neglected during the later +years of the leases, while in the earlier years little care was +exercised to see that the conditions of the lease were not departed +from. + +Miss Jeffery has opened a small office on the estate, as a centre from +which the rents of the houses are collected week by week. On their +visits the women managers find out what repairs are needed to make the +houses habitable and clean, and supervise the repairs already in hand. +Miss Jeffery and her assistants are thus in constant touch with the +tenants, helping them in many ways and inducing them to do their part in +improving their surroundings. While insisting that necessary alterations +and cleansing must be carried out forthwith, the managers do their best +to study the comfort and convenience of the tenants as far as possible. +If the tenants must be removed for a time, temporary accommodation is +found for them. + +It is intended that the number of licensed houses on the estate shall be +reduced as the leases fall in, and the managers are taking steps to +ensure improved management, on Public House Trust lines, of those that +will remain. + +About 170 families (representing a population of nearly 1,000) are +already paying their rent to the women managers, and fresh houses come +in every few weeks. The managers, with the Office of Woods behind them, +believe that the work of reconstructing the estate can be successfully +accomplished only if they can ensure the good will and co-operation of +the present tenants. With this end in view, they called a meeting of the +tenants already on their rent-roll in March last, and suggested the +formation of a Tenants’ Association. The intentions of the Office of +Woods with regard to the estate were explained to the meeting, as well +as the reasons for desiring the tenants themselves to combine and +co-operate in carrying out the scheme. The Association has been formed, +a Chairman elected, and several other meetings have since been held. The +scope of the scheme has been further explained, and points arising in +the management—such as whether rates should be paid direct to the local +authority or with the rent—have been discussed. That the powers and +responsibilities of a Tenants’ Association are beginning to be realized +is shown by the fact that within the last few days a petition has been +put forward by the Association, asking that one of the first buildings +to be put up on the estate may be a building containing rooms in which +working men’s clubs may be held; at present these clubs, several of +which have a large number of members, are held in the public-houses +because there is no other place for them. + +The scheme bids fair to be a success. The necessary changes will be +carried through with the least possible disturbance and friction among +the tenants, because the women managers have already won the confidence +of a large number of them. Many tenants do not want to part with their +old cottages, dirty and dilapidated as they are, and others are afraid +that, when the new houses are built, they will not be the persons to get +them. The women managers, being on the spot, will get to know the +individual needs of each household, and they will use every effort to +meet the needs of these households when the houses are rebuilt. In the +meantime, they are in a position to persuade the tenants gradually to +adopt higher standards of cleanliness and comfort, and so enable them to +take care of the new houses when they get them. + +Local authorities who are about to take over slum areas and reconstruct +them may find it of advantage to follow the example of the Office of +Woods and place an area, as soon as it comes into their hands, under the +management of women educated and trained for this work. + + E. A. C. + + + + + VIII + MANAGEMENT OF MUNICIPAL HOUSES IN AMSTERDAM[3] + + +Footnote 3: + + Reprinted from _Housing_, the official journal of the Ministry of + Health, July 19, 1920, by kind permission of the Controller, H.M. + Stationery Office. + + +The Municipality of Amsterdam has provided, either directly or through +Public Utility Societies, a large number of dwellings for its +working-class inhabitants. Up to the present time 4,000 families have +been housed in these municipal dwellings, 6,000 more dwellings are in +course of erection, and plans are laid for bringing the total number up +to 20,000 at no very distant date. + +The housing policy of Amsterdam is comprehensive. The town has assumed +the duty not only of supplying houses to meet the general shortage, but +of providing houses for those for whom no one else is able or willing to +find accommodation, and especially for large families. It does not, like +most English local authorities, select its tenants, but accepts all, +even the worst class, if they are houseless citizens of Amsterdam. + +In these circumstances the question of managing the municipal houses +becomes a very important one. Mr. Keppler, who has presided over the +Housing Department of Amsterdam for five years, came over to England to +see for himself the methods of managing working-class property +introduced by Miss Octavia Hill, and it was decided, as a result of his +experience, to appoint women managers to take charge of the municipal +houses and their tenants on the same lines. The first two women +appointed had been trained years earlier under Miss Hill in London. +There is now a staff of thirteen managers working under the Chief Woman +Manager. + +It is the duty of the Chief Manager to receive applications from and to +interview would-be tenants, to inquire into their circumstances, and to +allot new or empty houses to those families whose need she considers +most acute. Great care is taken in assigning the new dwellings. Some +groups of houses are designed expressly for families with five or more +children and are reserved for them, while families with a member +suffering from tuberculosis are placed in dwellings which have a sunny +balcony or garden. + +The managers collect the rents from the tenants in their homes; they +take a note of any repairs needed and inform the Repairs Department. +They instruct the women in the use of fittings and apparatus (all the +municipal houses are fitted with gas cookers and electric light) and +insist upon the tenancy regulations being observed. They co-operate with +a number of voluntary societies which help the tenants in various ways. + +The majority of tenants are of an average working-class type, and each +manager looks after some two hundred to three hundred families. But +since no tenants are rejected for reasons of character, it follows that +there are among them families which are below the average and a few +which can be described only as bad; they do not pay their rent promptly, +they are destructive, or they are noisy, drunken and quarrelsome. When +families are considered by the managers to belong to this group they are +removed into one of the special areas set apart for them. They are +placed in temporary wooden one-story buildings, built in pairs with a +fair amount of space between. These special areas are in open situations +on the outskirts of the town. Here the families are under strict +supervision—a supervision, however, which has always in view the +education and improvement of the tenant. The manager who has charge of +one of these areas—on each of which are not more than twenty-five +families—resides on the spot, in a dwelling similar to those occupied by +the tenants; she reports weekly to the Chief Manager on the +circumstances and conduct of each family and does all in her power to +help and improve them. + +The salary of the Chief Woman Manager rises from £350 to £550 a year. +Her assistants are placed in three groups, according to experience and +to the responsible nature of their duties. The salary of an apprentice +during her year’s training is £83; at the end of the year, if found +satisfactory, she receives £125, rising to £183; after this she may rise +gradually to £291. During the first twelve months an apprentice must +attend an evening course of training at the University School of Social +Work in Amsterdam, where she receives instruction in various branches of +social work, such as the relief of distress, social hygiene, club +management, housing and town planning. + +The Director of Housing regards the work of the women managers as +extremely valuable from a social point of view, and he hopes to be able +to find competent women to take charge of all the houses which the +municipality are putting up. The salaries of the women managers are a +fairly heavy charge upon the revenue, but the municipality considers the +money well spent. They find that the tenants gradually improve, that +rents are paid promptly and that the property is kept in good order, +while good tenants appreciate the consideration shown to them and the +interest taken in their welfare. + + E. A. C. + + + + + IX + REPORT ON HOUSE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT + + +In October 1920 the Women’s Section of the Garden Cities and Town +Planning Association appointed a Sub-Committee to report on the methods +and practice of House Property Management, especially with regard to +what is generally called working-class property and management by women. + +Having collected evidence from the personal observations of their own +members and the written statements of other investigators, and having +taken evidence also from a leading Woman Sanitary Inspector and from the +first Municipal Woman Housing Officer, the Sub-Committee adopted the +following principle for general recommendation and as a basis of their +Report: + + + That the management of working-class property should be in the hands + of persons who have had definite training in estate management and in + Social Science. + + +The points considered and reported on are divided under four heads: + + (1) The Classes of Property to be managed. + + (2) The Qualifications of Manager and Assistants. + + (3) The Training necessary. + + (4) Payment. + + + I. INTRODUCTORY CLASSIFICATION OF MANAGEMENT. + +The Sub-Committee desire to point out that until the advent of the Woman +House Property Manager there is no evidence that any special form of +Management was considered necessary for the poorer classes of house +property. + +A very general impression has been prevalent that the Management +suitable for better class property (that is, roughly, property let under +Agreement in Quarterly and Yearly tenancies) was also suited to tenement +and small house property let out in weekly tenancies. In fact, no other +system of management existed until Miss Octavia Hill took up the +management of weekly tenancies and inaugurated a system of her own. + +When well-built properties are in occupation of selected tenants whose +financial and social circumstances ensure that the property will be +maintained, with few exceptions, in good condition, the work of +management is reduced to a minimum and is chiefly occupied with rent +collecting and simple and regular requirements in the way of upkeep and +repairs. The assumption in the past that nothing more ought to be needed +for property of lower grades has too often led to concentration on the +more difficult collection of rents, with a minimum attention to repairs. +No attention has been paid to economic and social conditions, and the +net result has been the production of the slum. + +The Sub-Committee believe that the introduction of a suitable form of +management, insisted on by some recognized authority, could have +prevented the creation of slums in the past. They further believe that +it may do so in the future, and that it can, with special effort, +eradicate much that is evil in present bad areas. Miss Octavia Hill’s +System put into practice the theory that slums could be eradicated and +advanced the proposition that management could be made a means to this +end. She, the first Woman House Property Manager, and workers she +trained, all of them also women, introduced Social Economics into the +business of House Property Management. The Sub-Committee feel strongly +that many social evils might be avoided by the adoption of Social +Economics into business generally. The distinctive mark of Miss Hill’s +System is the consideration of the personal, human factor as an integral +part of the business. The Sub-Committee can find no justification for +condemning this principle as unbusinesslike. + +The Sub-Committee have considered the work done by Miss Hill and those +who have succeeded her, by visits, and they have read reports of the +work in various cities and towns in England and Scotland, in Holland +(see _Women’s Local Government News_, February and March 1921) and in +America (see _Good Housing that Pays_). They find there is evidence of +many slum areas redeemed. Improvements by rebuilding have almost +necessarily accompanied the work in nearly every case, but there are +striking instances of the maintenance of the original old property in +excellent sanitary condition. On the other hand, evidences of new +properties falling into disrepair for lack of management are not +wanting. + + + II. MANAGERS. + +On all working-class estates, whether of higher or lower grade, there is +much evidence to show that managers should be in complete control, +attending to all matters connected with the property, including the +collection of rents and repairs. There is evidence that the separation +of responsibility for rent collecting and for ordering and +superintending repairs leads to delay in repairs, and, in some cases, +has acted adversely on the rent collecting. Rent collectors who are not +responsible for repairs are apt to forget to report the need of them. + +Whether the manager should be a man or a woman is not, in the opinion of +the Sub-Committee, so important as that the principle of management +inaugurated by Miss Hill should be adopted. At the same time, they are +agreed that it should not be overlooked— + + (1) That the housekeeper is always a woman; + + (2) That the woman usually pays the rent; + + (3) That housekeeping and repairs are closely connected; and + + (4) That, therefore, a woman will usually be better equipped than a + man to deal with the problems arising out of the management of + working-class property. + +Whether a man or woman, the Committee are of opinion that the Manager +should be properly trained under managers of accepted standing, should +thoroughly understand the finance and law involved, should be of +recognized efficiency for superintending repairs and upkeep, and should +be well-versed in the social problems of the day and the methods of +dealing with them. + +A word should be added on personality. The more social and industrial +difficulties are represented on an estate the greater will the +prominence of the personal element be. Whatever the class of property, +the personal qualifications of the manager are of importance: tact and +consideration are always necessary. But the successful redemption of a +slum area will demand specially strong personal qualifications, with +wide sympathies and broad outlook, and, just as some learned people +never make good teachers, so some human temperaments will never produce +good managers, however much “trained.” + +The Sub-Committee feel that, on the whole, the splitting of the +management under separate Departments is inadvisable. Where such +division has succeeded in the past, it has done so largely because a +former (pre-war) selection of tenants has kept the most difficult +problems of management away from it. In bad areas it is most important +that there should be one Head in as direct contact with the Estate as +possible, responsible for upkeep and repairs as well as rent collecting +and selection of tenants. + + + III. TRAINING. + +Now that Housing has taken a foremost place among the questions of +national importance, it is recognized that the standard of good housing +cannot be attained unless accompanied by skilled management. From 1864, +when Miss Hill began her work, house property may be said to have been +managed on the two systems already indicated. The one—the more +general—followed by men qualified by the Examinations held for Surveyors +and Estate Agents. The other followed by women qualified by a high +standard of education and by special training in Social Economics. The +training of the men has been thorough on technical, financial and legal +lines, if too stereotyped and narrow in outlook. The training of the +women has not been thorough enough on the technical side, and has +therefore, perhaps, over-emphasized the social side. In the opinion of +the Sub-Committee an attempt should be made to combine the two courses. + +New houses, tenanted as they are mostly by the better class of tenants, +may be easily managed; but where tenants dispossessed from old houses +are provided for in modern dwellings, the need is evident for a highly +trained manager who will add to his or her business and technical +knowledge an educated interest in social conditions and problems. A +point in favour of women’s management comes in here. Many of the +incoming housekeepers have had no experience in using new fittings. +There have been cases in which the tenants have been unable, through +lack of knowledge, to clean their porcelain-surfaced or painted bath or +their earthenware sink, and have been quite at a loss in the matter of +their close-ranged flues. Where women managers have been at work +instruction has been given and quick deterioration of appliances +avoided. In many towns the congestion and overcrowding has been so great +that it has been difficult even for families with regular incomes and a +tradition of good housekeeping and homemaking to maintain their +standard. Where unemployment has made the income uncertain there has +certainly been a lowering of the standard. When such families go into +the new houses they need the help of a skilled and tactful adviser if +they are to become once more makers of happy and comfortable homes. It +must be remembered that the past has left to the towns of to-day a +heritage of slums which collect the products of all our social errors +and are a breeding-ground for every known social evil. Even as the worst +forms of disease require the skill of the cleverest physician, so such +properties call for the most highly trained management. From the +examples the Committee have had before them they find that such +properties have only been successfully dealt with under the Octavia Hill +System, and so far only by women. + +The London University now grants a Degree in Estate Management, and a +College of Estate Management will shortly be opened in London which will +prepare for this Degree. The Sub-Committee have examined the Course laid +down for the Degree and recommend that steps be taken to obtain some +recognition of the special need for the management of working-class +property in its provisions. The College will be open to women as well as +to men, and it would be well if some alternative or special section of +the Course could be arranged to meet this need. The lines along which +training should develop have already been indicated under Managers’ +qualifications. These might easily be arranged in the future at the +College and on Estates approved by the College or other authority, if +the good will of that authority can be obtained. + +The best course of training would probably be one which combined the +kind of studies arranged at the Household Science Department at King’s +College, the London School of Economics and the College of Estate +Management. All these institutions are linked up to the University of +London, and they would doubtless be willing to co-operate in this +matter. + + + IV. PAYMENT. + +Estate Agents are usually paid on Commission, but Housing Managers, +Superintendents, etc., under big Corporations are paid salaries. + +The Sub-Committee do not consider the percentage system a good one, +especially for lower grade property, which needs the more time and +skill. Also, where rent varies with the rates, as it does on nearly all +the properties managed by women, the basis of variation is undesirable +for such payment. + +Women Managers (mostly paid on percentage) have hitherto undertaken the +work at a sacrifice. Introducing as they did a new system of management, +their work was intensified, but their percentage remained the same as +that of the former agents. + +The Sub-Committee believe that better pay might be secured by the +following methods: + + (1) By a wider and more general attempt at organization. One Manager, + responsible for the general principle of the Management, could control + a large property or groups of properties, with specially appointed + superintendents and staff who have been made to understand the spirit + and aims of the work. + + (2) By a careful combination of higher grade quarterly tenancies with + the lower grade weekly, possibly aided by the promotion of some + regular weekly tenancies to monthly payments. + +There is very little doubt that management of lower grade properties has +been made to pay by undesirable means. Key money, percentage fees on +builders’ bills and other “payments” have crept in—in some cases are +openly acknowledged and expected. Management should be placed beyond the +reach of such practices. + +Inefficient management is very largely responsible for the slums of +to-day and has led to the need for slum clearances and the consequent +enormous expense to the Community. The necessary effort to redeem slum +areas now can only be successful by management on modern lines—a strong, +efficient business equipment, based on definite ideals with definite +social aims. Work on such a foundation cannot fail to bring results, but +it should be adequately paid. The attempt to overcome the evils of our +heritage of bad management by the introduction of efficient management +in bad areas may seem, at first, comparatively costly. It will never be +quite so costly in the end as inefficient management. + + + GENERAL REMARKS. + +A consideration of the whole situation has led the Sub-Committee to the +following conclusions: + + (1) While not advocating that all properties should be handed over to + women to manage, they are convinced that there are special + requirements on certain properties which, at the moment, urgently call + for women’s special experience. + + (2) It would be advisable for all Local Authorities to appoint women + in their Housing Departments. Birmingham City Council has taken the + first step by appointing a “Woman Rent Collector and Supervisor of + Houses.” + + (3) That every effort should be made to draw the attention of the + Local Authorities to the importance of the need for an improved + standard of management. + + + _Members of Sub-Committee._ + + M. M. JEFFERY, _Chairman_. + E. A. CHARLESWORTH. + D. MEYNELL. + F. C. PRIDEAUX } _Members of the Association of_ + M. GALTON } _Women House Property Managers._ + E. A. BROWNING, _Secretary_. + + (Signed) GERTRUDE EMMOTT, + _Chairman Women’s Section Garden Cities + and Town Planning Association_. + + + _Printed in Great Britain by_ + UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + + ● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75837 *** |