The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-30
IMPROVEMENTS AND RENTS
Must a Tenant Pay More If His
 Home Is Made Sanitary?
Bernard J. Newman, Executive Secretary, Philadelphia
 Housing Commission.
Exclusive Service The Survey
 Press Bureau

due to the growth in the number of tenant farmers. Outside of the farm ing class home ownership is ins -eas- ing But this increase may be only in name since the percentage e-r homes naortgaged has grown steadily greater since 1890. Owing largely to the spread of Building and Loan As sociaticns, the mortgage holder is slowly supplanting the landlord. There were, according to the census. 10,697,se5 rented homes in the United States in 1s1O- Problems conc ,rned with the renting of house are thus of considerable importance to approx fsnafeIy o,o0e. 900 tenants. allowing five to a home.
 What Does Rent Buy?
 To the vast majority of tenants the important question seems to be the amount of rent. Few consider what the rent purchases, lcontenting them selves with the external appearance of the house. It's location, the mum Der of rooms and how they are papered. Even some Of these factors have lit- tie weight with many tenants. if only the rent is low. This feeling is so strong that the tenant will often bear with all sorts Of inconveniences and disrepafr. grunb1ing at times to the agent. but rarely asserting his right to have the house kept in good con dft1en. He will put up with 1eaky roofs. damp walls, wet cellars, or any one of a dozen other defects without protest. He fears that if he does else, insisting on having Improvement
 
 Few teNap1s regard rent from the right point of view. They estimate the amount charged as high or low according to their incomes and not according to what it purchases in conyenienees that are conducivs to health and comfort A man may pay only s90 month for 4 rooms and yet shss dwelling place may actually cost H1zn more than that Of some one else who spends SIP for the same number of rooms. The first may get a dwell ing with poor drainage and an made cuate water supply, while the second may secure one with good drainage and ample water supply and a bath room as wall The second pays the \ smaller rent although in dollars # seems larger. In reality the extra amount ia a health and comfort. i'm surance as well as an economic say Ing. It buys the things that help to ward off sickness. to keep the body strong and the mind alert It helps to saxezthe doctors and medicine bills and to produce greater working eff cfency in both husband and wife. Ac- tua1 rent, therefore. should be figured not merely through comparing dollar spent with dollar earned, but also through making the dollar spent af- ford protection against sickness and pain and other and greater losses.
 Do Improvements Make Rents Hgher7
 What is the effect of Improvements upon rents2 It is true that in many cases when a landlord has been re- quired to make Improvements rents do go mp. but it is not always true, and 1t is seldom true unless there are number of other factors at work help Ing to produce this result It is the. popular opinion. however, that rents dEcrease with improvements. People recall from personal experience cases which bear out this opinion. These few cases, perhaps impressed upon.
 
 lead them to conclude that improve nnents are usually followed by higher rents That this conclusion is wrong is indicated by a study of the effect of improvements upon rents made by the Philadelphia Housing Conrnis- sion
 For two years the PhiiadeIphia Housing Commission has been active in forcing the repair Of detective prop critics Some of the repairs were structural in character weak walls were Strengthened or fire escapes were required Others were of a san ftary nature. calling perhaps for the cleaning. filling and abandoning of yard vaults and the installation of water closets Many were less expen- siye. consisting only of the laying Of pipes and the placing of fixtures for additional water. or the repair of de- fective plumbing and lealy roofs.
 The average rent was SIP, although the extremes ranged from $6 to $50 per month. The average cost of the forced Improvements amounted to about months rent. In some of the smaller properties where assessments were levied for street Improvements at the same time the total cost to the owner absorbed a full years return In other eases where the houses were let for from $30 to $50 per month >ne cost of the changes averaged S1o0 per house As the houses were inn- proved upon the complaint of the commission, it was possible for the ifi- spectors to get accurate data cover ing the rents paid before and after the changes were made. In all, 154o house records were secured For L.