THE SOCIAL WORK OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES 293

people who have been living even in the worst of houses for a
long time, show a reluctance to move, but it is particularly
noticeable that slum dwellers who have young children are
anxious to leave if there is other accommodation, not too far
from their work and reasonably cheap. For the housing problem,
though it has several aspects, cannot be divided into watertight
compartments; unless the destruction of bad houses is supple-
mented by the provision of cheap accommodation, overcrowding
must result. Accordingly, it is open to a local authority to declare
a district where at least one-third of the houses are slums, as a
Re-development Area. The authority must then submit to the
Ministry of Health a plan showing how it will arrange for houses,
streets and open spaces in that area in the future. Some of the
redevelopment may be done by private agencies, but the authority
is responsible for seeing that all the land is put to a suitable use.
Since 1930, another method of treatment is available, by which
mixed districts containing some houses fit for demolition, and
others requiring only repair, may be declared as Improvement
Areas. The authority which .takes this action must issue the
appropriate Orders to the property owners, and see that they are
enforced.

It is clear that any assault on the slums means an interference
with what used to be called "the right of a man to do as he likes
with his own*'. No such right, in an unconditional form, can
exist in a civilised community, and where a man's property is
the houses in which other people live, there is special need for
action by the public authorities. But a State which bases its
economy on private enterprise must scrutinise carefully any
restriction on private property rights. Throughout the whole
process of slum clearance, local authorities have to meet the claims
of the property owners, who can appeal to the Ministry of Health,
and on some issues can take the matter to court. No compensation
is paid for the demolished houses themselves—any more than,
as one Minister of Health has put it, compensation is paid to
the butcher whose tainted meat is destroyed—but there is room