The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-01-07
POVERTY REDUCING RENTS.
THOUSANDS or APARTMENTS THAT
LANDLORDS CANNOT LET.

some Finding shelter ms best they Can.
The depression that has thrown so many
! men out OF employment is creating a growing
anxiety among owners OF tenement property,
VINO view with serious alarm the steadily In o.
creasing number OF vacant apartments In their
houses the rapid diminuton IN rentals, and the
difficulty growing greater week by week with
which their tenants manage to pay even the
smallest rents. The increase In the num-
Der OF vacant apartments Is explained
by the fact that many families that formerly
rented four rooms now crowd into two. aud
those who used TO live In two now make shift to
get along In ono. In some csses, alas, among
the very poor two families crowd into a single
room, their only means of finding n shelter from
the severity OF winter. The landlords techni-
cally call 1t doubling up" Many landlords
profess to forbid IL; but they wink at 1t, for
tho' know II to be u terrible necessity. or the
FORMER tenants who have disappeared, many of
Foreign birth have returned across tho ocean.
To Germany, France, Ireland, Wales and
England the number OF steerage passen-
gers within year past has been far
greater than ever before, and instead Of sending
money to the Old World, 10 bling out relatives
and friends to the Now. the money Is sent from
Europe to America. MANY. too, OF the best type
OF hard-working, honest artisans and mechanics,
given up as hopeless their search for work and
bread In New York. and have gone either to
other cities or to the country. Some there are
more unfortunate than either of those, who ave
been forced to abandon their wives and little
ones TO charitable maintenance, and have them
selves enlisted In the great army of destitute
men who haunt the streets. Thus there has
been gradual sinking In the homes OF the un.
employed, from the nrst-cIass tenement to tho
second. from that to the third, from the front
house to the rear. and ond Jwn to the rock
cries" But how many such changes have been
made cannot be known for workingmen who
feel the piuchings Of poverty arc the most re-
served and shrinking OF the poor. They keep to
themselves and suffer In filence.
A real estate aeent, who has charge OF the
tenement property Of great life Insurance
company, saws: Our paving tenants arc re-
duced one-nalf. house that in good times or
even ordln'rv time. would Yield 81 500. will not
now return much. N any, more than half that
amouut. The numbers Of tenants nave not de-
creased In Tn proportion; probably there are
not more thtn one THIRD less I AN there used To
be, but the rents have been reduced, ana even
Yet there are only ABOUT half who can pay We
have great deal Of trou ole In NJ aking collec-
tOhs. People Will move In aud make partt |
payments In advance. promising to pay the re-
tne next week Out when next week comes,
tue owe as two or three mont Ia rent, Then
they move out They are honest people, nd
u d
day To get some work that will enable them 10
d" 50, but there Is no work for them. Many 90
TO eheapsr houses. TIN. has been going on for
over wear, ana getting worse all the time"
Mr.. Il. Nttell, OF Third avenue and Sixty.rrst
street, says am not an agent flr tue com
mon tenement property. but for French Nat
houses and the first class OF houses u xt be-
low them. The tier are from twelve t. twenty
Der cent. vacant. ana the former are to a still
greater extent uDoccupled. French flats are
IN these times OF distress, the refuge Of those
who used TO i've IN brown.sfone houses Tbey
F.4Dl ~ ar = al
Tor rent, but can stil pay SSJO or 500 There
Is great deal of difficulty In collecting rents,
but, nevertheless. L. have no tenants who are
more than two months behind L,ndiorls used
to make a practice OF getting their rcn,s IN adj
they have TO curry them over. There has not,
az VET been any concerted action among land
has been talked Of very seriously and viii prob
ably, " made at all, be to the extent of about
ten per cent On prescott rates"
psn.- . ~ e%"sr o. number q tepe.
falling OH OF one ttird In the teuanting Of this
class Of houses in the sixth wari. that is. one
third OF the rooms IN tenements are empty I
coniroi property not only Ia that warj, bat In
Allen ana SKI III streets, aud there also a
simili state of affairs prev lis. Those who re.
man manage with the greatest iniruliy To pay
ne tents, Which have been greatly reduced.
December was the worst month yet for
them; Ing Ct Is that there is such
~ .rritv II work that the mcn cannot
m ANYTHING, not even enough to obtain
ioyd l"f tueif families, and TO- Il they uuste aye
before rent. lney ire honest, good people, VINO
wonld pay " they could but ihey can't YoY
can hafdlf conceive the distress oil some u the
poor Let "a" n,tahrs n case Of u mother.
Two da cutters. and two ecbtidren belonging
10 one OF Tue uaurhters-a widow to whom |
went ON, day 10 collect rent. | fOun them IA
one room. with nothing but the bare wllis ABOUT
t'tin anu me rays upOn them. Ihey mad no
bed. no table. no chair, nltping whiiovcr ~
e""h W. u, o'nr % u N a" al eTpt 10 nelp
thrn, oi cours'. We q" theu bed anu food
and fuel, and pu, them In little better
shape. bur they are terribly poor yet
know Of 40 other cases of distress. OF course
we c MT Nlrct any rcut from them. Ana
there's no good In turning The poor creatures
out. even II YOU nave the he ri t. do Il. They
woulI ualN de N the streets, ana they might As
well siaf IN the rooms rs have them empty
I've got tenants who have not PAID me I, cent
for I'VE months. Those who used to pay for
hair "a iipor now put up rs well ~ tbey can with
room and bedroom. OF perhaps thoy double up
condition Of affairs continues, or what u to be-
come OF TIE landlords. Inc wealthy ones may
stand y, but those VINO depend on one or two !
houses viii nave t. 20 to the wlll. Average
ren's III the sixth Ward tenemenis tue i've
room ana bedroom In the front and s. IN tue |
back, on the uoor above the store. with do
crease OF II a dol on every Il Dor to the top.
hnl Is m ine front buildings. In the rsar. the
prices are 500 on the FIRST floor, 81 on the sec
oud' then decrease as In the front. he city |
authorities -uuuId cert iniy do something to re- |
iicvr the misery 4 the y ,or: not by the inuis- !
cripiuatc distribution II aims, tut bv ,n,rding |
them work. wnich would az once relieve tnelr |
necessities aud ares rVe ther seli-respect. The
p1pr who go nos uc- are those who suffer most" !
Mr.. ;. Neek~, wn6 owns tenement house in i
tine SIKH, l. .htn, Fourteenth. aud Fifteenth /
Wards. SAYS tnat one thitd u II, rooms arc /
enntv. and /; Is 'he beet class Of trnemcnts-
those IN whicL room aud nodtOom let Tor frOui
- 1, Slt ier mphtA-in Mhich thrre are mos
empty apartments. Ineir former occupants
have. he tNlnh-. moved To cheaper places lilo |
mas ndm9er ~ tenants wno re thice months !
IN arrears. Houses that were worth Sis,OvJ tour /
years 20 nave y en- 10 less tnnn sSJO.
Mr.. elm On, OF Fordham. VINO owns a large |
amount 81 ten 'inent property in the ciN, says /
that his houses are scarcely half rented To uAy. |
lus tenants, although .he has comuaraliv,y few |
I = II tiI