Evening star., 1934-08-23
D. c. IS DECLARED
HELPLESS IN FACE
| OF HOUSING EVILS
Hazen Says District Is Un-
able to Force Razing of
Insanitary Homes.
FOWLER STARTS PROBE
OF RELIEF QUARTERS
0vercrowding Is Cited After Sur
vey-0ld Law Makes Public
Pay Improvements.

AS Health Officer William c. Fowler
prepared today to investigate insani-
tary housing of District relief recipi-
ents, Commissioner Melvin C. Hazen
and other District officials main
/ tanned the District Is virtually help
less to force the razing of these
health -menacing structures, although
many have been condemned.
Mr.. HaZen declared this Is due to
the inefectiveness of the present law
here, and said it Is essential that
Congress enact amending legislation
during the next session.
Nevertheless, Fowler requested FL
wood Street, director of public well
fare, to furnish him the addresses of
houses where insanitary conditions
prevail and declared ne would act ito
the limit of the powers of the present
law" to force property owners to
abate health nuisances.
Forced to Pay Damages.
Capt. Hugh B. Dram, director of
inspection. revealed the District more
than six years ago had abandoned eff
1orts to force the razing of insanitary
buildings because Of court decisions
requiring the District to pay damages
to the property owners even in cases
where the value was only in materials
taken out Of the old structures.
DR.. Fowler disclosed the Board for
Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings
had not even met for two or three
years.
Commissioner Hazen voiced the be-
lief that the alley clearance program
now being organized by District and
Federal officials would meet a major
1ty OF the cases of structures lacking
sanitary facilities, but even so, said he
thought the old 1906 law for con-
demning insanitary buildings should
be strengthened.
Capt. Dram said he already had
prepared new draft of a proposed
amendment. This is being studied by
officials Of the corporation counsel's
Office. In 1882 Senator Capper, then
chairman of the Senate District Com
mittee, introduced a new measure but
1t failed Of enactment. 8
$50 Destroyed Yearly.
Each year the District brings about
the eradication Of about $50 old build
ings found structurally unsafe. The
survey published by the Welfare De-
partment showed many of these Con
demned" buildings actually are being
rented to relief families.
Capt Dram said this could be pos
sible since a period of four months
usually is required to bring about the
razing Of an unsafe building, due to
present legal procedure.
DR.. Fowler said he would have his
health inspectors examine each of
the properties listed by the Welfare
Department as lacking sanitary facili-
ties and, although condemnation ap-
peared impractical, he would order
provision of sanitary facilities wher-
ever the facts and the law warranted.
He said, however, he had no au-
thority to limit the number of persons
who may be housed in a dwelling.
Figures compiled in a survey of
6,595 relief clients here showed that
30.1 per cent of all their housing was
overcrowded even by members of the
families, the second chapter of the
study, made public today, stated
When roomers were included with
family units the percentage of over
crowded households is increased to
34.6 per cent, the report continued.
Average Taken as Base.
The basis for measuring overcrowd-
ing was to use an average of is per-
sons per room.
The statement, edited by Leroy A.
Halbert, director of research, and
based on a canvass by. civil works en-
ployes under the direction of James
Ring, showed that the average white
family consisted of 3.27 members and
the average colored family 81. The
average white household, including
roomers, had 4.O1 members and COL
ored households 3.76 members.
More than half of the 6,595 cases
lived in quarters of either one or two
rooms and rs per cent of all the cases
lived in dwellings of four rooms or
less.
Twenty-eight per cent of 355 cases
of colored alley dwelling renters were
found to be living in one room. This
was taken to indicate that single
, rooms in three or four room alley
houses were being sublet by the renter
or that the owners were renting these
small houses to two or more families,
| the report stated.
1t was found that 222 white fam
lilies and 1,403 colored families of two
or more members were living in
quarters having no room not used
entirely for sleeping quarters.
The failure of the 1906 law was
outlined in detail in the report made
to the Senate last session by the Public
Utilities Commission on its investiga-
ton of housing conditions here. The
report declared the effectiveness of
the act was destroyed as a result of
court action taken in 1926 by Charles
T. Felter, owner Of two-story frame
dwellings at 1442 and 1444 Church
street.
AS customary, the court in that case
appointed a committee Of award which
found that If the buildings were re-
stored to sanitary conditions they
would be worth about 81 800, that the
/ cost of restoration would be about
| $70o. Deducting the cost of the repair
work, the committee awarded the
owner s1,100 which the District was
required to pay.
This decision moved the District to
abandon condemnation of inSanitary
buildings and resulted in the effort to
obtain stronger condemnation law.