TECHNOBUREAUCRACY ANO CITY LIFE Table 4: Spatial Concentration of Poor Housing: Great Britain 1971 Lack fixed bath . Lack inside WC . Households with more than 1 ½ Persons per room Lack exclusive use off all basic amenities Proportion in Proportion in Worst 5% of Worst 15% of EDs (*) EDs 30 64 28 61 33 61 18 47 (20) (*) EDs = Enumeration Districts (i.e. the basic geographical units for Census Counts). attempt to find) housing accommodation at a price they can afford. It is not too surprising to find that in England in 1976 there were 52,570 known homeless households compared to 50,950 the previous year (21). There is no doubt that the worst housing in the nation is concentrated in the private rented sector, which is in turn concentrated in the inner city. « The problems of the private rented sector are accentuated by its extreme geographical concentration and the generally poor condition of its housing stock. This reflects the fact that 70% of privately rented accommodation was built before 1919... In fact, more than one in five privately rented dwellings is statutorily unfit, as compared with 3,8% of owner occupied housing and 1 % of council housing... Over half of all unfit dwellings in England and Wales, and almost half of all dwellings lacking a bath, shower or WC, are in the private rented sector, though only 14% of all dwellings are in this sector ... The private rented sector is concentrated mainly in inner city areas, above all in London ... Even in London, private renting is concentrated in the centrai areas » (22). (20) HMSO, op. cit., p. 63. (21) More Homeless, in « Roof » Shelter's Housing Magazine, September 1977. (22) SHELTER, The Future of Private Rented Housing, Evidence to the review of the Rent Acts, London 1977. 25
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