payment of rent. By these means, monthly arrears were reduced from 16.3% at the beginning of the year to 7.6% at the end. Tenants unable to pay their rent for financial reasons are referred for help to welfare organizations. It is hoped that the recently introduced Public Assistance Scheme will help the poorer tenants to meet their obligations.
OVERCROWDING
52. When resettlement estates were first occupied in 1954, it was decided that the 120 square feet rooms should accommodate five adults (two children under ten counting as one adult) at a density of 24 square feet for each adult. This emergency measure, unhappily, had to be con- tinued over the years owing to the severe shortage of housing. During these years the older estates became very overcrowded, both by natural increase and as the result of a policy whereby relatives were allowed to be added to households. While some 11,595 new born children were added to estate tenancies during the year, new rules introduced on the 1st May, 1970 restricted other categories of additions to 1,156 spouses of tenants and 3,637 others, mainly compassionate, a total of 16,388 as against 18,258 in 1969-70. During the same period, the deaths of 949 residents were reported, while a further 8,964 left the estates for other accommodation.
53. On 31st March, 1971, some 354,810 people in 47,839 families were living below the minimum density of 24 square feet, 5,800 more than in March 1970. In general, the older estates were more over- crowded than the later ones. In this situation, there is very keen com- petition to acquire any empty rooms which become available when families move out of the estate. Each estate therefore maintains a 'qualifying density' and on the first of each month all empty rooms are advertised for application by eligible families, and filled by the most overcrowded family. During the year 3,224 families comprising 26,168 persons were given extra space by internal transfer in this way.
54. However, the overcrowding problem cannot be solved unless a large number of families move out by external transfer to new accom- modation, and an annual quota of new places is reserved for this pur- pose. Furthermore, as a consequence of the introduction of the stricter additions policy outlined above, it was agreed by the Urban Council and Housing Board that married sons of tenants might be split from their parent families and offered rooms in outlying estates. Only a small
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