Evening star., 1933-03-25

placement OF Out-Of-date dWellln
The latter proposal includes pr
Board and authorizes the incorpt
corporations here.
No less interested in these proposals
Is society itself, which views them in
the light of constructive measures de-
signed to meet definite needs.
After an exhaustive 9-month study
OF housing in the District OF Columbia,
the Washington Chapter of the Ameri-
can Institute of Architects makes pub
lie today. a yoluminous report on the
subject, in which it calls for the sup
port "of all public-spirited citizens" to
the housing bill.
Unfit Conditions Target.
The Copeland measure, which was
drafted under guidance of the chapter,
Is designed to remedy what IS describes
as 'insanitary or otherwise unht nous
ing conditions which exist in certain
areas of the District, and are menace
to the health, safety, morals, welfare
or reasonable comfort Of the citizens OF
the District"
The architects, whose profession Is
OF necessity a leading factor in the
building industry, declared in launching
this study that they felt keenly their
responsibility with respect to housing
conditions GAS planners" they de-
clared, I'VE realize the necessity for a
more ordered and continuous civic
growth. We have taken the first step
OF making study Of conditions and
recommending a solution. We now ask
the support of all public spirited citizens
to the proposed housing bill.
The report was compiled by COM
nittee of members Of the local chapter,
headed by Louis Justement, and in
GLIDING Gilbert Rodier Robert Beres-
ford. Arthur Heaton and Delos Smith.
The findings of the group turn the
spotlight on what it looks upon as an
increasingly important problem con-
fronting civic growth-that OF So-called
"blighted areas" 1t is, in essence, the
depopulation of old established resi-
Dental areas through constant tend
ency toward abandonment OF housing
accommodations for better quarters.
This natural tendency" the report
points out, "is aided and abetted by the
activities of the real estate operator
who uses every allurement to fill his
vacant acres. Census figures show that
in two very large areas OF the older
city of Washington, there has been a
loss in population of "a per cent IN
the 10 years from 1920 to 1880"
While granting that the newer por-
tiors of the city generally are in &C
cord with reasonable standards OF
sanitation and comfort" the architects
committee declares that the older Sec
tions are, in part, "of rapidly 1ncreas-
ing c5solescence and decreasing popu-
lation," facing also period OF con-
tinuously decreasing values and increas-
ing neglect and decay.
Gathering Place Of Poor.
1t is in these areas, the report states,
that the poorest class of the population
tends to gather, since no new housing
for this class is ever built. While the
general average of sanitation and COM
fort in these older sections Is not as
vet alarmingly low, there seems every
reason to believe that present tendencies
if allowed to continue will convert these
blighted areas into slum areas, the COM
mittee reported.
"The theory has been," the group
continues, that the central business
area would expand and that the aban-
doned residential areas would be used
for business purposes or for apartment
houses. The trouble with this theory
is that the business area does not ex-
pand at anything like the rate required
to utilize obsolete residential property.
The blighted character of most OF the
downtown residential area makes IN
dividual new buildings too great risk. "
AS compared with many Eastern
cities, the "blighted area" problem IN
Washington is not acute today, the
committee report says. This should
not blind us to the fact, however, that
the ultimate result of allowing present
trends to continue will be further loss
for the property owners, and increas-
ingly bad living conditions. There IS
only one way in which downward trend
can be arrested, namely, by the con-
solidation of relatively large parts OF
a blighted area under one ownership
and the renovation or rebuilding OF
the buildings on large scale basis"
In arriving at solutions for the prob
lem presented by this situation, the
committee classified four possibilities:
/. The philosophy of "laissez-faire"-of
avoiding any interference by govern
ment and of allowing full play to nat
ural economic forces. 2. Municipal
(Contin,Ied on Second Paqe)