Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-04-29
BERNARD J. NEWMAN
On the Housing Problem

TNTIMATING that endless meetings winch
/ produce no relief are about as useful ms
a crop Of foul balls at a worlds series base
bail game. Bernard j. Newman, in DIS
cussing the Philadelphia housing problem
declares that the time for bankers. builders
and building trades people TO qult sparrlhS
and get down TO work is here and now.
although rents for properties of tn"
lower types. without most OF the modern
convenicnccs. have risen only from )? I"
So a month, he says. many renting IRON
500 upward have increased As high as 2oo
per cent a month. This we have learned
from q survey Of a cross section OF the city
supposedly representing typical properties
of the type in which the renter IL interested.
"Philadclphia has been called city of
homes. As matter Of fact. in 1910 only
about % per cent OF Philadelphians were
paying for or owned their homes, and our
researches of 1919 and 1914 showed that
of 300 typical renters. only about II per
cent had started TO buy homes since 1910
Sixty per cent at least of PhladephianS
are renters.
ITO provide for the necessary hcxibility
Of domicilc in II manufacturing city thcr"
should he at least 3 per cent of the homes
in our industrial localities vacant at all
times, so that workers moving from on"
section 10 another to get close to their new
positions can be accommodated.
Conditions Not Good
"Iousing conditions as revealed in our
recent report show n condition far from
ideal in this respect In total OF Io.St2
houses there were found only fifty eight in
n tit. sanitary and structural condition for
occupancy at a rental of $50 per month or
under. the rent reasonable 10 the industrial
worker. upon whose efficiency Phi!NdeI-
phia prosperity depends.
THAT was the case in city where ap-
proXimAtely so. 900 are reported out of
work, with an accompanying inability to
meet oNpensce OF those 7O.S32 houses.
only 40 were vacant. and ~ were for sale
only in other words. available only to the
man who had enough money to float the
purchase OF the property on current valuG-
tiOns Rents on properties, as ! have in
dCHt"d, formerly leased at so Il month or
over, have gone up tremendously som" ~
that prc-war rental bringing now as high as
$50 n month.
"Phadclphia's housing question is no
longer n question Of the poor and the badly
ventilated, ill-drained, germ breeding lofts
aud shaCks on which attention was focused
pror to tho war. Today the question of
homes is NJ stake. and by that ] mean the
Qa"st!on Of getting plNc" to Iiy" in which
our average citizens can exist and be nor
ma, efficient human beings.
1--WE cannot dodge the issue IN respect 10
the link between social efficiency and the
trrt essential, decent shelter. On the au-
thority Of trained investigator who acted
for Il company which built houses FOR its
employees, | have II that where separate
quarters are available tpr each family the
number Of divorces become less the family
QuarrrS are fewer, the social crimes and
evils are decreased.
Kindred Evils Appear
considerable attention is being drawn Of
late 10 thc dance hall evil and to family
troubles ranging from the minor mscon.
duCt Of the unhappily housed single man and
woman I" ID" tllegtimnt" child and the
divorce Philadelphia lack Of housing ha,
n lot 10 do with that situation. Far Sighted
hnanricrS and men interested in keeping
their workers contentcd and effective eco.
nomicaly would realize that. Apparently
they de- NOT.
"Thr house that used to shelter in comfort
one family now shelters as many as six and
perhaps one Of these families takes in
bonrdcrS. That means, frankly, an increase
in divorces. social unrest, iliCgitimacy
BOarders are people who cant have homes
not because they don't want them. but bo.
cause builders, tnanCers. material men
won't cut down their profits TO the point
where they can have them.
''Th" conduct OF people who cannot marry
or who. once married, cannot live normal
domestic lives and enjoy the Sanrtlty md
security Of separate family existence. bo,
comes unSocial indeed, anti social
Food prices have gone down in n meas
urC; clothing prices are slowly Welding
Houses there are none, practicalIy THSo
top hOOr of the three. story home Of tho Inst
generation now shelters one family rho
middle story is split up into dlnky two or
three room apartments which are mora
apologies for homes. They do not csr,y
with them even the responsibility of homc
4 lIte which keeps men and women out of