xt737p8tb81t_602 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt737p8tb81t/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt737p8tb81t/data/65m19.dao.xml unknown 15 Cubic Feet 24 boxes, 3 items archival material 65m19 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. John Scott Lansill papers Captioned housing images with continuation of accompanying segmented essay (began on 387) text Captioned housing images with continuation of accompanying segmented essay (began on 387) 2023 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt737p8tb81t/data/65m19/Box_24/Item_12/Multipage1384.pdf undated section false xt737p8tb81t_602 xt737p8tb81t 0 Their findin; -— a rent average of Su0.86 for 38,836dweh-
ling units -- agrees well with the Bureau's figure. The gist
of the survey is given below:

Rented and vacant dwelling units by type of
structure and rent classes — Washington,D.C.
(source: Public Utilities Commission :Eurveydanuary. 19M)

Numberof Dwelling Jnits l of Total
Apartments DwelHng

Range of Rent HOdSeS Larger Smaller Total UD Its

Under $20 5110 -- 92 5402 13.9
$20 to $30 7541 118 3131
$31 to $49 10922 3058 ..t 14101
350 t0 ?"O 6020 2043 8129
$70 a over 2104 669 2773
Total 31797 5886 . 38836

0 What did they get for their money? Pitifully little,
the housing census indicates. "Houses renting below $35
per month are, with few exceptions, dilapidated, lacking
modern conveniences, or located in the most undesirable en-
vironments," the Commission reported. "A large number of
these homes are probably at this time in process of condem-
nation. It can be asserted with the greatest conviction
that there are few houses fit for human habitation to be
fouha vacant in the District of Columbia for less than $35
per month for white tenants and $30 for Negroes."

o The following table shows the cost of space in modern
apartment buildings for white tenants in January, ID3R. Such
high rentalslead Himany cases to serious overcrowding.

1 room a bath. no kitchen....$26 to

1 room a bath. Kitchen.......$30 to

2 rooms. kitchen a bath......$4o to

3 rooms. kitchen 5 bath......$60 to

4 rooms. kitchen a beth......$55 to
o How do rushington rents compare with rates elsewhere?
They are about one-third higher than the average rental in
other Cities. In November, l934, the rent index for the
Capital was 35.1i as against 614.4 for 32 representative towns,
according to Labor Department figures. Here are some spe-
Cific comparisons:

0 ln Real Property District No. l, which includes such typ-
ical cities as Trenton, PrOVIoence, and Portland, Me., 70
percent of the rental units could be had for less than 930.
District Ho. 2, which takes in CleVelahd, Richmond, Va.” and
Wilmington, had 7a percent of its units available under $30.
In District to. 4, including Decatur, Peoria, Racine, and
lndianapolis, 83 percent fell below this level. In Washing—
ton, however, only 35 percent of the rental units could be
had for less than 330.

0 Since this survey was made,the number of federal amfloyees
in the District has increased more than 20 percent -- and
rents have soared in proportion. The upshot is that many
government workers either are living in quarters hardly bet-
ter than slums, or else are paying exorbitant prices to es-
cape them. They literally have no other choice.

0 Federal employees, however, are living on velvet in com-
parison with the city's lower-paid laborers. Repeated ef-
forts h) mop up the slums have failed, chiefly because of
the complete lack of low-rent hopes into which to move their
inhabitants. The average slum-dweller cannot afford to pay
more than ll) or $l2 a month for rent. Yet there were only
68 houses available for white families at less than $20 a
month,the Public Utilities Commission discovered in its l93u
census. (Touay the figure is considerably smaller). Negro
houses were more plentiful, with 65% being listed at a rent-
al of less than 320. in both classes the number of homes
with even the most primitive sanitary arrangements was neg-
ligible.

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. "With the exception of ,alley houses and shacks hi oad
condition,there are no single family dwellings with ordinary
utilities in the District now rented or available for less
than $25 a month, and insufficient dwel lirigs within the
means of thcse whose income ranges upward to $2,500," the
Commission pointed out.

0 Such scarcity has ledto frequent cases ofreht extortion.
A tenant in Logan Court paid $5 a month rental in IQOS; to-
day, with no improvements and with the deterioration of
thirty years, the same house costs him $l0. During the war
a rent commission was set up to limit the increases caused
by overcrowding. Oh one home it granted a rise in rent from
$|3.50 to $|8.50 per month. The present tenant is paying
$32.50 -- a 75 percent increase over the "abnormal" prices
of war time.

o The city's Alley Dwelling Authority has at last recogniufi
that slum clearance is impossible until new homes are pro-
vided, and it is now planning a three-point progrmnfor
resettling alley dwellers. Its projects are: (l) to build a
cheap, temporary, three-story apartment house ezuipped with
nothing out the minimum conveniences; (2) to repair and re-
build a group of existing alley houses, arranging the units
around a central court; (3) to set up a few mnall, cheap
cottages on the outskirts of town. All three scnemes are
intended as demonstration projects, to p0int the road to the
large scale resettlement which nmst be undertaken sooner or
later. Comparativcly few dwellings will be orOVided, and
these will be classed as "minimum," not "model" housing.

0 The cost to the connunny of uad housing is just beginninj
to receive recognition. The Second Precinct, for exahple,
includes only 3.22 percent of the District's territory; yet
it is eating up more than 20 percent of the city's total ex-
penditure for pOIICe, sanitation, fire protection, child
welfare, correction, and sewage disposal. At the same time
it pays a steadily dwindling share of the Community's taxes.
The result is a gap of at least $530,003 a year between the
sum the Second PreCinct pays into the City treasury and the
Sum it drains away. To put it bluntly, oad housing in this
one area is costing Washington half a million dollars an-
nually.

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Three reasuw why hashinjtoh taxpayers spend nearly a million
dollars a year i)n publ ic healtri and liospital services.

0 human costs are even more serious. "8nd housing and crim- o The inability of private enterprise to take care
inaltendencies go hand hihand,' the Cmmmssimireported. of the situation has been demonstrated over along
"The account of children who have never had a chance because period of years. Low-cost lwousing is not an emer-
of condnnons of their home life and the lack of normal genc) neon, although emergenCy accentuates it. in
cleanliness might be extended to great length." Police fig- its recommerndatiOhs the Publ ic Util ities Commission
ures show that both crime and juvenile delinquency reach outline! the only effective remedy.

their peak in the slum areas. Of all juvenile probationers,

f0, exmnple,72 percent come from crowded or congested homes. 0 Slum clearance and resettlement, it declared, 'cannot be
accomplished if the buildings are erected under speculative

conditions, and the nanagement subordinated to the selfish-
ness of speculative or promotional interests. The construc-
tion of low-cost housing ....should be undertaken only in
conjunction with a plan for systematic inspection and cars-
ful management of the flats or houses. 8) this plan two im-
portant economic groups of the City's population may be
served: the low-paid government employee and the poor resi-
dents of the alley slums."

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o The health of thousands of children also is blighted by
slma conditions. lashington's tuberculosis death rate, to
Cite only one instance, is six times as high as its traffic
fatalities; and the great majority of tnese deaths occur in
congested neighborhoods. Dr. Charles R. llalley recently
told health officials that "it is safer to be born a calf in
Hontgo~ery county than a child in Washington” so far as tu-
berculosis is concerned.

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