Housing in Glasgow before Municipal Intervention
In the late 19th century, Glasgow was still undergoing vast industrial and commercial growth, and the housing for the working class within these industries responded to the immediate requirements of this growth. Existing tenements built in the 17th century, initially for for the middle class residents of Glasgow, had fallen into a state of disrepair. The addition of crude, makeshift flatted additions sprawled over the backlands of the tenement developments. Forthwith, areas with predominantly working class residents such as Calton and Townhead within the city centre, sat adjacent to these decaying 17th century tenements. The group of newer 18th and 19th century tenement buildings within these areas were positioned in rectilinear block formats and were interjected by industrial buildings at regular intervals. Whilst this was occurring in areas such as Calton and Townhead, areas with large amounts of tenement buildings of similar dates, such as Lauriston and the Gorbals, were still predominantly middle class– despite eventually becoming slums.
The surge in demand for housing within Glasgow accompanied the rapid industrialisation and population growth within the city. Subsequently, as there were not any housing policies in place at this time, the increased housing demand was met almost entirely by privately rented homes and dwellings. By 1890, the provision of working class housing within Glasgow could be split into 2 categories: housing for the skilled working class- this saw the construction of new, contemporary versions of the pre-existing middle class homes built at a smaller scale, with yearly tenancies; and housing for the unskilled poor, this saw the subdivision of pre-existing large middle class housing into multiple smaller dwellings, with monthly or even shorter tenancy periods.
This new housing built for the skilled working class was very much juxtaposed by the makeshift housing for the unskilled working class population of Glasgow. This unskilled population was largely comprised of immigrants from Ireland and the Scottish Highlands who, from the early 19th century onwards, had moved to Glasgow in an attempt to rid themselves of the poverty and famine that they experienced within rural life. Once they had moved to Glasgow the reality of the overcrowded nature of the city saw this new ‘urban poor’ population initially settle in the immediate areas surrounding Glasgow Cross. These areas, in a matter of years were transformed from middle class neighbourhoods to overcrowded agglomerations of slums. By the mid 19th century, the once refined and urbane neighbourhoods that surrounded Glasgow Cross were overtaken by clusters of dilapidated timber and stone structures and refuse heaps. Within these neighbourhoods, due to the poor living conditions and lack of employability that shrouded the communities, violent crime was prevalent as well as mass drunkenness due to the emergence of illegal drinking houses.
Many descriptions of the Glasgow housing conditions in the late 19th century have discussed the reduction in officially defined overcrowding in the larger context of an unfavourable comparison with the larger reduction later achieved by council house building assisted by the large subsidies from the rate fund; but could it have been, in this area that the limited convergence with the English pattern of more, but smaller rooms had the more immediate paradoxical effect of perceived overcrowding.
The Introduction of the first housing policy
The ‘Housing and Planning Act 1919 (Addison Act)’ was the first public housing policy introduced by the central UK Government. This policy saw the UK Government grant subsidies to local councils allowing them to build low cost rental housing for the working class population.
At the time of the introduction of this policy, the people of Glasgow were living in some of the worst conditions in the UK, with up to 8 people sharing 1 room and up to 30 people sharing 1 toilet. Due to the very apparent conditions of overcrowding within these homes, the spaces in which many were living in were extremely unsanitary. These unsanitary living environments saw diseases such as cholera, typhus and tuberculosis run rampant throughout communities. Therefore, the introduction of the ‘Housing and Planning Act 1919’ was welcomed by many, due to the promise of an improved standard of living for the masses. The working class people who were living in slums were captivated by the governments promise of low cost rental housing – with more space, running water, indoor toilets and electricity. However, the reality of this government scheme was not what it was promised as many of the working class people, living in these slum areas, could not afford to live in the council housing. This, therefore saw social residualisation occur in many slum communities, those who could afford it moved to these more desirable homes, leaving behind a social residue of less enabled people still residing in these terrible living conditions.
The introduction of this act saw the provision of several thousand high rent ‘ordinary’ homes for the lower middle class and the skilled working class. The first of these ordinary developments started at Riddrie in 1920 and in Mosspark in 1921. Although encouraged by an unrealistic government target of 57,000 new homes, an application list of 20,756 had accumulated by 1922, output was meagre, partly as a result of disputes with the board of health, who set the criteria for the homes, over costs and designs and by 1927 only just over 6,000 ‘ordinary’ homes had been completed, mostly by private contractors.
Although a formal system of allocation and factoring was devised, actual letting and management procedures continued the practices of the pre-war middle class private market, by emphasising the ability to pay rent and preserving the privacy of the individual householder.
The cessation of new private building for rent had more or less stopped the process of filtering from older property while rent control has begun to discourage maintenance of these houses. During the 1920s, therefore, areas of made-down housing began to fall into increasing dilapidation. The corporation had discussed the need for further slum-clearance legislation in 1919, but, after it became clear that the scale of the ordinary programme would be insufficient to revive filtering, the moderate council came under pressure from the Independent Labour party members, to begin to cater directly for the unskilled working class, for the first time ever, by rehousing into newly built homes. In 1923, a 2,000 house clearance programme was commenced with further programmes authorised in 1926 and 1927n and a rolling programme started in the 1930s.
Argument about how this policy failed.
Slum Clearances
Tower Blocks
Modern Day Regeneration
Conclusion
Why did these policies fail? Who did they fail? How did they effect these people? Is there hope for the future?