HOUSES v. FLATS
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Sia,—Mr. Block's article puts the case for houses as against flats with admirable clarity, and is, on the face of it, con- vincing. In practice, however, the issue is not quite so simple.
In the first place all housing reformers will agree that for the great majority of working-class families separate cottage dwellings are at the present time preferable. The question is whether, in dealing with slum clearance and overcrowding in industrial cities, it is not desirable to build a certain propor- tion of flats on reasonably central sites for those workers who do not wish, or cannot afford, to travel long distances by the already congested trains and trams in order to get to and from their work—or for that matter their entertainment, evening institutes, and so forth. The amenities of urban life a; opposed to suburban are not to be despised, and it is significant that the Liverpool Corporation, which has large cottage c dates, is embarking on an extensive scheme of flat building largely because of the great number of application; they receive for that type of dwelling. It must not be forgotten that the ideas and habits of the working classes incline increasingly to what one regarded as middle class, and it is of the future that we must think in providing housing accommodation.
" Decentralisation "—yes by all means, but in that Housing must wait upon Industry, and unless we go in for Socialism very soon it will be a long business. In the meantime there axe many places where Flat schemes are the only practicable solution of an urgent problem, and it surely behoves us to regard them not as a necessary evil but as an opportunity to create a dignified and convenient environment -for active
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