Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-04-19
WILL USE TENTS
To HOUSE MANY
n. Y. HOMELESS
Thousands of Families Are
Expected to Adopt This
System Until the Housing
Dearth Is Remedied.
my MORNING JOURNAL SPECIAL LEASED WIRE


New York, April 1S.-Thousands
of New York families, some of the
73,l14 registered as homeless" by
the tenement house department,
are expected to live in tents fur
nished by the United States army
until the present housing dearth
is remedied, according to men in
terested in the building trade here.
Just where they will locate their
new domiciles has not yet been de-
cided, although an army of real
estate agents modified" as it
We're, overnight in Greater New
York, has vast acreages of vacant
land to lease in four of the five
boroughs
From 1900 to 1000 families
viii live in tents in Pelham Bay
park alone" declared Waiter c.
Martin superintendent of the
Bronx tenement house department,
and l have no doubt but thar
many other sections will have
whole colonies of tent jewellers
after May /. In view of the antici-
pated increased demand for tent
age, especially by evicted families,
! shall write to the war department
for sufficient canvas to meet all
possible need in the Bronx"
Flood of Pleasure Seekers.
On top of the present housing
shortage looms the prospect of the
usual horde of pleasure seekers,
many of them with abundant war
profits or earnings, who are COM
ing to the metropolis for their
summer outing, Some of these will
offer landlords attractive prices
for temporary quarters and, where
tenants are occupying apartments
from month-to-m onth and paying !
exorbitant rents, the result is eX-
peeted to be an increased number |
of evictions on May / and June /. |
Evasion of the anti-rent profit |
teering laws recently passed at
Albany is a common charge in |
many cases against landlords up
for trial in the municipal courts. |
Thousands Of tenement Owners" |
to circumvent the law which COM
pels the landlords to prove their |
rights to raise rents more than 25 /
per cent a year, have notified ten
ants to vacate their property by |
September /. Then they plan 20
rent the apartments to the highest |
bidders.
An indication of the competition |
for shelter in New York Is afford !
ed by the tenement house depart
ment figures which show that, due
to light building and the remodel !
ing of one-time tenementS into !
more profitable business structures, |
there are today actually fewer !
apartments in the city than there |
were this time year ago. On Jan |
uary l, 1919, there were 9S3,139 |
living apartments in New York, |
large enough approximately for g.
93l,7 persons. Under the law. |
it must be remembered, a""tene- !
ment' may mean building ONT
Riverside Drive as well as in the |
lower East Side. Since January l.,
the city has had an estimated in
crease of 53S,604 in population but
the building construction which |
has been done since that date is
sufficient to house only 465,49 |
persons, according to the real es-
tate board,
Landlords Are Happy.
Meanwhile the war is over and |
trainloads of oil, steel, lumber and |
automobile men and thousands of |
other prosperous Americans are
said to be planning to Invade the
Great White Way. TrainloadS al
ready have arrived. For most of |
them it will be no short vacation.
Many are bringing their families
and they are prepared to pay fancy
prices for accommodations, All of !
which gives joy to the landlord and |
real estate dealer who see visions
of a bountiful harvest.
So while tired mothers with I
babies in arms, leave baby carri-
ages outside court room doors, and !
with worried husbands plead |
against eviction from their homes
the magistrates after granting
them temporary stays, postpone
the hearings to read up on the i
new legislation put through at AL
bany. And while Mayor Hylan's |
committee struggles for a solution |
of the complicated problem, city
marshals accuse each other of |
profiteering in eviction cases. |
Hundreds of men, said to be with |
out authority, were also reported |
posing as 'marshals" and serving
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