In 1875 the Artisans’ and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvement Act was passed by Parliament. The Act seemed to offer a solution to the problem of slum housing in Britain. It had been designed by Richard Cross, the home secretary, and it allowed local councils to buy up slum dwellings in order to clear and rebuild them. However, this did not lead to the expected rapid replacement of slum districts.
Local authorities had to buy the land and pay for the buildings to be demolished before rebuilding could occur and this was expensive. In addition, the new buildings were supposed to ‘provide for the accommodation for at least as many members of the working class as may be displaced’ which further complicated implementation of the Act. This meant that by 1914 only 35 slum clearance schemes had been completed.
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