Housing Models and Model Housing An architectural correspondent writes :
For the next forty years the nation is committed to an annual expendi- ture of some £4,800,000, the estimated cost, in exchequer subsidies and rate contributions, of pulling down the worst of our slums and rehousing the tenants at rents they can afford to pay. Nor will this be all ; it seems probable that, rather than the 850,000 dwellings at present allowed for in the Government's five-year pro- gramme, the ultimate total required will come near the 2,000,000 mark. The taxpayer should wish to know that the large sum of money involved is being spent to the best possible advantage. One means towards this end is the stimulation of a wide popular interest in the problems of slum-clearance and rehousing, for which reason the " New Homes for Old " exhibition at Olympia, arranged by the Housing Centre, deserves the strongest support. A section of particular interest is the work of the M.A.R.S. (Modern Architectural Research) Group, which shows, as the first stage of an extended programme of research, an analysis of conditions in Bethnal Green- e district arbitrarily chosen. Apart from the excellence of the presentation, this exhibit makes clear the necessity of starting from fundamentals in the work of replanning.
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