Rent Restriction Though the Labour Members of the Committee on
Rent Restriction reject its Majority Report altogether, criticism is most likely to concentrate on its proposals for abolishing control of the lower-rented houses. The Report recom- mends that restriction should be ended immediately in the case of houses of a rateable value of over £35 in London and Scotland, and over elsewhere, and advocates gradual decontrol of houses below this figure according to the local amount of overcrowding ; the first step will be taken in 1940, the second in 1942, and in the areas decontrol will be gradually applied until 195o. There is much to be said for these proposals, for restriction has stood in the way of the building of new houses ; unfortunately, so long as a housing shortage and overcrowding exists, decontrol inevitably implies a rise in rents. Thus such proposals should only be put into operation if at the same time measures are taken to ensure an adequate supply of new houses at sufficiently low rents. Decontrol of the lower rented houses might well be delayed until an adequate survey has been made of the effects of slum clearance and of the campaign against overcrowding. Lastly, the Majority Report adopts as its standard of overcrowding that of the Ministry of Health, which is generally agreed to be unsatisfactory ; it is advisable at least that the stages of decontrol should be determined by a standard designed as a real measure of housing needs rather than as a means of attacking the worst cases of overcrowding by establishing absolutely minimum requirements.
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