Evening star., 1924-02-22
SURVEY OF RENTAL SITUATION
HELD TO SHOW Law NOT NEEDED
II. l.. McKeeuer Presents Charts to Pr0ue Supply OF
Homes Near NOrmal-Denies Unfair
Increases.


housing situation in the District. for.
titled by charts from government sta
tlstics and other sworn-to evidence
! showing the condition in the Nationa
Gapltal, the first comprehensive Wis
ual survey laid before the subcom.
mlttee of the House District com
mittee conducting hearings on the
Lampert bill to extend indefiniteI,
the life of the Rent Commission, wa.
presented today by r. l.. McKeeyer
until recently president of the Wash.
ington Association of Building Own.
eri and Managers.
MT. Mckeevcr started by thanking
! the committee for the very consid
| crate manner in which il has treated
t thosc testifying. emphasizing the fac
I.:. un.t we nave the misfortune of beint
! mtthout a voice or vote in the con.
eroi or our own affairs. and have mt
! representative in Congress" He re.
viewed the spirit of the testimony
VI tHe rent commissioners. and said
! sees Commission Biased.
! one gets the impression that theil
! ives and honor might be at stake
| instead OF merely their jobs" He
quoted instances where he said the
coinmiss! s!onerS admitted TO "colorinl
J the facts" and to lighting this figh
Tor the tenants" Then Mr.. McKeevel
asked DO you think that any prop.
crty owner can secure an impartia
| ana equitable decision from them q
! After testifying for more than AZ
hour. producing charts showing tha
the increase III cost of housing has
| been less than the increase in other
| costs of living, that the increase il
! rents has not been out of proportion
, TO the increase in building costs. ant
summarizing figures on the amount
| or rent advertising, which SHOWED
demand, Mr.. McKcever urged hi.
| conclusions for the especial atten.
tion OF the committee as follows:
Was Emergency Law.
FIRST, that the only reason or cx.
/ Cuae ior the original rent act was
@ @omat war time emergency existed
1 ne treaty of peace with German,
the act is continued and is now abou1
! 10 De extended or made permanent.
| second that 1t is clearly shown by
: the vacancies in Washington TO-DAY
J tn"t no emergency exists which coult
[ In any way embarrass or interfer.
with the operation of the federal gov.
ernment: nor does any other kline
'f housing emergency exist.
| Ahlrd, that sthe act effectually nulli-
,es the solemn obligation imposed b,
bona fde leases-ieases made fol-
rentals based on the budget of operat.
| ing expenses are Immediately nullifled
! f'ourth, that consideration should b.
| given the fact that although the sub.
committee has held night sessions il
| order to give the tenants an oppor.
tunity TO state their views, and tha,
/ this phase of the hearings has beer
given the widest publicity, less thar
/ one tenth OF i per cent of the so, 0sC
tenants the Rent Commission claims
bow. y.,1-
! appear.
eff any shortage does exist in the
w-prlced domicles what, if any. ef-
/ feet, has the existence of the Rent
commission had toward overcoming the
shortage VIII continuance of the
commission result ~ . larger supply
OF this class Of domiciies?
Declared Ont. Palliative.
Fifth, why waste the government
money on something that IS on:y a
Patiatire and not a cure"
MIR. Mckeever laid stress on the
TACT THAT at the time of the last extern
sion OF the Ball fent law, following, a
request from committee representing
the Merchants and Manufacturers AS.
sociation of the District. the Senate
committee recommended that business
property be included
"Hwevcr, it was not included" he
said, and it is significant to note
that when il is again suggested this
time that business property and
hotels be included in the proposed ex-
Lampert bill the Merchants and
Manufacturers Association adopts a
: resolution in which it pointed out
that while they favored this kind of
legislation during the war. certainly
no good purpose can possibly be
| served by such control in normal
times such as at present
1t 1s also significant to note that
. the Washington Board OF Trade. a
, most conservative organization with
cent OF whom are tenants, has gone
on record as being opposed to any
extension of the rent control act"
Denies Shortage Exists.
Mr.. Mckeever discussed at length
survey made by his association
showing the different classes OF
property for rent, the number o,
rooms and the rent charged. all de-
signed to show that there was no
real shortage of places TO rent
He then quoted statistics from the
building department OF the Distric,
which indicated how the housing
emergency is being overcome by an
19l7-1S to February "a. 1924 there
We're built 239 apartment houses
1926 brick houses and 1929 frame
houses. which shows" he said
mat the housing DrODiem lS today
taken care of by the natural law OF
supply"
Among exhibits presented by Mr..
McNeeSer We're i've charts based on
statistics compiled from classified ad-
rertsinG columns of The Evening and
Sunday star from January 1914 to
date. Another chart is a deiineation of
the cost of living figures compiled by
the bureau OF labor statistics, United
States Department of Labor.
The first chart shows the number of
lines of advertising under the heading.
Houses for Rent"
Sees Move Toward Normally.
You may note in 1914, 1915, 1916
and 1917. the first three years being
prior to our entrance into the war and
the last year being considered as such
since the effect of the war was not ap-
parent in the housing situation until
1915" said Mr.. Mckeever Indicates
that the average number of lines of ad-
vertising for Houses for Rent was in
the neighborhood of $4,000.
During the emergency period which
followed our entrance into the war
this fell to 5000 lines or less, and the
lines Of advertising at the present
time stand at about 1900 per month,
so that in the Houses for Rent" we
have covered but so per cent of the
road which leads to normaicy.