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M171

COPY OF A LETTER RECEIVED FROli MESSRS. J.C. COLLINGS AND PARTNER IN CONNECTION WITH THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE RESEARCH COMMITTEE ON

MINIMUM STANDARDS OF ACCOMMODATION.

21st March, 1949.

re s MINIMUM STANDARDS.

In connection with the various sub-committee reports we have been getting (very nicely produced too, if I may say so) Major Collings and I have studied them carefully and are rather perturbed about a few things. While Major Collings will bring them up at the meeting on the 30th we thought you might like to consider them in advance.

The main points concern native housing. The report of the House Design Sub-Committee lays down certain room sizes and numbers of persons to be accommodated in various classes of dwelling and recommends that the figures given should apply to all housing irrespective of the race of the occupant. While fully appreciating the line of thought behind this recommendation we feel

(a) The figures have been evolved with an eye to current European requirements both as regards room sizes and the number of persons who can be accommodated in any particular class of house - vide the furniture arrangement diagrams.

(b) No indication whatsoever has been given as to where, if absolutely essential on economic grounds, and we feel there are such grounds, that standards must be cut below those at present recommended, such standards might possibly and justifiably be cut and where they cannot be cut at all,

(c) We are perturbed that should the Housing Commission accept the standards as they are now recommended by the sub-committees then in as far as Native Housing is concerned such will be completely stifled and made financially impossible. On the other hand should the Housing Commission not accept the standards then no guide exists as to what should be oroviaed, excepting the very inappropriate provisions of the Slums Act, and we would be left exactly where we are now - everybody having a guess.

II

(d) During the last few months we have been trying out numerousdesigns and costing same and the best we can do on the present Commission Standards for a 3 roomed house plus kitchen, store and pit privy (1000, 1000, 800 cubic feet respectively for living-room, main bedroom and other bedroom) is about £300^in brick with 11" walls. Nov; if one takes the new suggested standards of 125 S.* Ft, 100 S.Ft and 220 S.Ft, respectively for main bedroom, other'bedroom and~Li ving-roonTplus"kite hen together with storeroom and pit privy the cost will be about £340.- That is 13% on a cost which we feel already is too high for many Local Authorities (our clients unfor­tunately! ) When one considers that in the industrial towns, where the native housing problem is most acute, in all cases the native population just about equals or even exceeds the European population

(W:i twa t e r s rand/,

I I P

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(Witwater srand 550pC0Ej 325,712 N. : Durban 130,000 E;113 000 N. : Pretoria 131,000 Ej 104.,000 N. : Bloemfontein 38 000 E: 4-3,000 N.) and that of the European population less than -o-rd are ratepayers then one can deduce that each ratepayer is virtually responsible for at least 3 native houses apart from some coloured and European sub-economic housing as well. II therefore a cost of £300 per house makes losses hxgh ana dis­couraging to Local Authorities how much more so will an increase in capital cost of 131 with its attendant increase in losses by about 20$ (the discrepancyfbeing due to the effect of a static rental level.)

(e) Most European sub-economic families have almost no furniture.Any social worker will confirm this, don't be misled by stories you hear around committee tables by those who only look at the first house in schemes and inhabited by the "prize" family.Natives are far worse off, and for that reason, provided the Slums Act is not contravened there is no reason why children should not be crushed up a bit in bedrooms and the living-room used for sleeping purposes by one person. Enclosed is a memorandum setting out our line of thought on this matter and the higher densities resulting thereform. We feel very stronly that the maximum densities set out, which result from the use of t e living-room for sleeping purposes and the crushing up of children in bedrooms, should be used as far as natives are concerned as also for coloured families whose social_.stejj^^M-jearni^^^apa- citv is on t.hfi nn.tive level. For the more responsible coloured families we feel the slightly lower densities resulting from crushing up children in the bedrooms only should be used in pre­ference to the recommendations made by Sub-Committee No. 9 which should we feel apply to Europeans only.

On a point of technical interest the conclusion arrived at_ in the Memorandum that the "person-unit" method of calculation is worthv and reasonably safe of use is borne out by the following check study on 3H families we had carried out the other day. it has the advantage also of being easy to apply in practice even using Native tabulators having little experience.

PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL FAMILIES CALCULATED ON.NO. OF INDIVIDUAL PERSON-UNITBEDROOMS • SCRUTINY BASIS. CLASSIFICATIONIN HOUSE METHOD.

1 11% 19/°

2 32% 29%3 26% 22%4. and over 25^ 30%

(f) Generally speaking we feel there is no great need to have de­parted much, if at all, from the present Commission Standards as far as Natives are concerned and Major Collings will suggest the following to the meeting on the 30th.

(i) Standards as now recommended acceptable for European Housing.

(ii) Standards as now recommended acceptable for ColouredHousing for families whose status and earning capacity is above that of the native, but numbers of persons accommodated might be increased as a temporary measure. Reasons - present day economics and the fact that due to absence of furniture in the bedrooms of most coloured families extra children can be accommodated.

BEDROOMS.

123 U 5 8 - 1 0

(Children between 1 and 12 years of age being con­sidered as ■§• person unit,)

(iii) Standards as now recommended too high for Native and "low status” Coloured Housing. Suggest as follows:

.S MAIN BEDROOM reduced from 125 S.Ft by S'6" high (\i (i.e. 1062.5 cub. ft.) to capacity required for

2?r persons under the Slums Act - 1000 C. Ft. or 118 S.Ft.ii

■ i1.» OTHER BEDROOMS reduced from 100 S.Ft. by 8*6"^ high (i.e. 850 cub.ft.) to capacity required for

2 persons under the Slums Act - 800 C.Ft, or ,1% 3. Ft.

o! Sft!I * I KITCHEN Acceptable as recommended 70 S.Ft. for 1 and 2 bedroomed dwellings.LIVING ROOM reduced from 220 S.Ft. and 210 S.Ft.

q less 70 S.Ft. for the kitchen in the case of 2* and 1 bedroomed dwellings by the area of Chester­

field Suite and Sideboard - 30 S.Ft. That is

2 bedroomed house - 120 S.Ft. F1 it « 110 S.Ft.

DUELLINGS FOB CHILDLESS COUPLES - Our recent surveys of urban native family structure has shown there is quite a consi­derable proportion of families consisting of childless couples who could well be housed in a one bedroomed dwelling having a living-dining-room-kitchen attached. The 180 S.Ft. bed-living- room plus kitchenette recommendation is obviously inappropriate and we would suggest

pr.DROON - 1000 C.Ft. or 118. S.Ft. as suggested earlier.LIVING-KITCHEN - 110 S.Ft. as per "Dining-Kitchen" recommendation for Europeans and Coloureds. Again no living-room furniture as such need be allowed for, hence 110 S.Ft. should be ample.

HEIGHT. /

HEIGHT. Average height of 8’6" is acceptable but condi-“ “ tion of a 7'6" wall plate height forces design

to either have a very flat roof (11 degrees) or to go above the S'o" average. See no reasons, why 710" is not acceptable in. view of ohe natives smaller build compared with Europeans.

WINDOWS. The 2$ daylight factor for kitchens has been takenfrom European standards and is unnecessarily high for S. African conditions e cept perhaps in the Western Province. Apart from this the window^ sizes rec-oMfien.ded are costly and almost impossible to place in a 90 S.Ft, let alone a 70 S.Ft, kitchen in a semi “detached house alter food cupboard external door have been positioned. Suggest 1% daylight factor with penetration of 7 feet ample.

ACCOMMODATION. It be accepted that one child or adolescent must sleep in the living-room and that dwellings be allowed to accommodate the xollowing;

(g)

BEDROCKS. PERSON -IJNITS.1 - 2 (No living room

but living- kitchen only.)

12345

2 j r

3 - 4i 5 - % 7 - Sg- 9 -1%

Apart from the above we feel for Europeans, definitely, and in the absence of any other j_nformation for Coloureds ©,*-> well, the percentages in the general guide for distribution of dwelling types be taken from the report of Sub-Committee No. 1 in preference to those made by Sub-Committee No. 9.As far as Natives are concerned we have done quite a bit of^ work on this subject during the last six months and while of necessity our conclusions are based on small samples over 10 surveys (2 being detailed ones of our own) we feel the following figures could be adopted for design purposes.

1 Room2 Rooms3 Rooms (and over)

20f=20%60%

i.e. 1 Bedroom and Living-kitchen i.e. 1 Bedroom and Living-room i.e. 2 Bedrooms and Living-room & i\.

These figures deal more or less completely with the newly married and smaller families but do not properly cater for the larger families needing more than 3 rooms and which^ comprise about 2 0 % of the total. Under present conditions, however, we don't see much hope of building houses of over3 rooms for natives.

This letter has become rather long I'm afraid but perhaps it is just as well to have dealt fully with our various suggestions as we feel the reports if adopted as they now stand will not meet practica_ conditions over the next 10-15 years in the Native Housing j.ield would lead to a stalemate position with the Committee and your Institute branded as "idealists”. As it is our own suggestions are regarded as high in some quarters. i

Collection Number: AD1715

SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS (SAIRR), 1892-1974

PUBLISHER: Collection Funder:- Atlantic Philanthropies Foundation

Publisher:- Historical Papers Research Archive

Location:- Johannesburg

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