Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-03
A HOUSING ORDINANCE

THE Telegraph publishes else
i where to-day the outline of a
housing law that is to be made
the basis of an ordinance to govern
housing conditions in Harrisburg.
DR.. Raunick and City Solicitor Fox,
with the advice of the States hous-
ing expert, will undertake to make
such changes in the States model
ordinance as will fit it to local con-
ditions. In doing so, they should be
sure that they have the best possible
regulative measures before sub
mitting it to council for action. A
good ordinance would work a vast
change for the better; a poor and
inadequate ordinance would be
worse than none, for its enactment
might easily block further considera-
ton of the subject without material
ly improving the situation.
The officers may expect to hear OBJ
jections. There will be property
owners who will try to convince
them that the regulations proposed
are too stringent. AS DIR. Raunick
says, the immediate and vital need
is for legal power in the hands OF the
Health Department to force careless
or dirty tenants to clean
up their premises. OF course, we
need new houses; need them badly,
but a thorough renovation of all the
dwellings in Harrisburg that are not
now fit for human habitation would
go a very long way toward remedy
ing a situation that is fraught with
peril for us as a community and is
bound to become worse unless some
legal restrictions are placed upon
both owner and renter.
A few old buildings may have to
give way as a result of the proposed
new law, but If they are beyond re-
pair their loss to the owners would
be small and the whole city would be
the better for their removal. Houses
that have outlived their usefulness
are breeders of crime and disease.
They make possible the growth of
the slum in cities the size of Harris
burg, and every such building cven-
tually becomes the center of a group
of its kind until whole districts are
affected by the deadly virus and
sink from respectability into the
depths Of shabbiness and fifth, which
rob the dwellers there in turn Of
their own pride and self-respect.
That is the worst featuro, perhaps. of
the many which are associated with
the rundown house.
To prevent one residence from be-
coming own-at-the-heel or to keep
it from going unrepaired so long that
It becomes a menace to its occupants
and to its neighborhood is to halt the
encroachment OF the slum before it
gets started.
Regulations of this kind are pro-
posed in the housing ordinance now
under consideration. Council no
doubt will accept the recommenda-
tions of the experts interested, per-
haps with some trifiing changes, but
If the committee of three now at
work on the measure gives us regula-
tions that meet with the approval of
housing experts, the men who make
up the city legislative body will do
well to turn deaf ears on the pleas
OF purely selfish persons whose in
dividual interests may be afIected.
In the end good houses will pay for
themselves and owners who believe
there is more money in letting dwell
ings go to pieces than in keeping
them in good repair will learn their
mistake. After a good housing ordi-
those who may stand in it's way at
this time will become its most hearty
supporters.
Berlin may break with Ukraine,
says a dispatch. Very likely, and
then we're going to break Berlin.
THE SEMAPHORES