Evening star., 1934-06-01
The Report on Rentals.

The Public Utilities Commissions
report on rentals and housing in the
District undertakes to cover so much
ground, discussing not only relations
between landlords and tenants, the
alley situation and model housing prof.
ects, but taking up in addition some
Of the well-known evils of specula-
ton during boom periods, that many
Of its findings are necessarily gener-
allied. But the report reflects serious
study of a condition that is of great
importance to the community and will
doubtless be of value should Congress
undertake to enact some of the legis-
lation proposed.
The commission, in this connection,
realizes the complicated task that it
outlines in broad and general terms,
and suggests that
Legislation of this character, touch
ing as it does the welfare of every
individual in the District of Colum-
bia, should be presented to the Sem
ate only after the diverse interests
OF tenant, home owner, builder,
broker, and public administrator are
given ample consideration. The hous-
ing law for the Nations Capital
should be a model law. 1t should
be fair to the taxpayer. Its terms
should be sufficiently inclusive to per-
init f1exibility of administration in
the interest of complete fairness.
If this proposed legislation is to serve
any useful purpose, it should be so
drawn as to prevent effectively the
recurring periods of overeXpansion
and overfinancing, when usury
f1ourisheS, when fraud and mis-
representation pass unnoticed, when
innocent investors are induced by
high-pressure methods to place their
savings in the securities" of inflated
real estate schemes, and when shoddy
building accompanies high prices and
exorbitant rents. The stabilization
of real estate values in the District
Is greatly needed.
Every one will agree that the franz
ing of legislation to accomplish these
desirable ends is a task that might
well engage the experts and the
members of Congress for many, many
years. For many of the ills thus
associated with the real estate busi-
ness are those which have been as
sociated with mundane sinners since
the world began, extending into most
Of the fields of human activity. Their
remedy through legislation is a COM
plicated and questionable under
taking.
There is general agreement, how
ever. on the desirability of legislation
which attacks and aims to prevent
the evils of eXtortion by excessive
rents, and there is growing senti-
ment in favor of establishing certain
quiring that they be adhered to by
landlords. But there are far more
tenants than landlords, and no re-
port has ever been able to demon
strate that all landlords are heartless
profiteers. The problem in framing
fair rentals legislation is to preserve
the sort of fairness that protects the
conscientious landlord along with the
conscientious tenant without injuring
either in the attempt to get at the
rascals.
Legislation aimed at establishment
of a rentals tribunal, a real court of
equity dispensing even-handed JUS
tice to landlords and tenants alike,
and with power to correct and pre-
vent the abuses that prevail among
a certain class of tenants as well as
among landlords, would be desirable
and would doubtless find general sup
port. But the framing of such legis-
lation requires, as the commission
points out, careful study and consid-
Grafton and more specific direction
than the commission has been able to
furnish in its report.