from a Glasgow reader A report prepared for Glasgow Corporation by a team from the University headed by Professor J. B, Cullingworth provides extremely useful statistical ammunition for those of us who urge that a profound change in priorities is necessary on the part of the government if it is to tackle the social problems of our society, 'A Profile of Glasgow Housing in 1965' is to be published by the University shortly. In summary, the bald facts brought out are these:
36% of our dwellings lack a fixed bath or shower - 22% are without an
internal water closet - 41% do not have a hot water supply to bath,
wash hand basin and sink, Yet using the corporation's criteria of
unfitness only 6% are adjudged to have a life of less than 5 years;
20% are expected to last from 5-14 years and a further 17% from 15-29
years, Of this latter group, , in which some inhabitants of this city are
expected to live until 1990, # lack a hot water supply at 3 ced a 2/3
have no bath and 1/5 are without an internal water closet. But worse is to come. Only # of those having a life of less than 5 years are actually expected to be demolished within this period - so that a continual process of falling behind is clearly envisaged in the rate of demolition, As we would expect, the houses with the best amenities are owned by the corporation, The overwhelming majority of the 2/5ths of our population who rent these houses enjoy the three major amenities, At the other extreme, in the privately rented sector only 27% of dwellings have a fixed bath; 57% an internal W.C,. and 28% hot water at three points. Owner-occupied property in which roughly 1/5th reside occupies an intermediate position, Some sacred cows of the Tories about the alleged comfortable position of council tenants are demolished, On average owner-occupiers have considerably higher household incomes (£20,10s) than either council tenants (£17) or private tenants (£14.10s). Taking per capita income owner-occupiers come out at £6,.5s, private tenants at £5 and council tenants at £4 (the difference in the two sets of statistics is accounted for by the larger average number of children in households in council houses), On my calculation the difference in average wages more than made up for the rather larger outgoings of those buying their own homes, (not to mention the tax relief and the eventual financial benefit of acquiring a saleable asset), Further the increases in council rents in November 1965 and September 1967 taken together put roughly 63% on the average rent. To hear some of our Tory councillors talk a Jaguar stands outside the door of every corporation house - the reality is found in the statistics which show that only 16% of council tenants have the use of a car - compared with 34% of the Scottish population, This Report along with the Stationery Office's recent publication ‘Scotland's Older Houses' provides the statistical facts to back up what all of us who live in this city know to be the miserable reality. But it also provides, along with the many other reports now appearing on the deficiencies of our social services, a scathing indictment of a Labour Government which has scarcely scratched the surface of such problems, From the Labour Movement of this city, above all others, there should surely be an urgent demand that this government turn its attention and its money away from propping up the crumbling fabric of imperialism in Hong Kong, Aden, Singapore and a dozen other places and towards providing decent living conditions for our population,