Evening star., 1936-12-27
By the Associated Press.

10 tAiS focOtintcu EAtecs
Rose bushes and laundry tubs, dark
rooms and current event forums. sand
piles and rent collections: these are
some Of the problems that pile down
upon managers of Federal housing
projects.
The rose bushes have to do with
sand piles. The Federal housing prof.
ects are meant for workers who have
low wages And workers with low
wages usually have children. Children
must play. II they don't have q place
to play and some supervision. they
dig up rose bushes and shrubbery and
change grassy terraces into pet caves.
So the housing manager must supply
the supervision. Sometimes q man
must be hired for that work. His pay
Is less than the damage would be.
The apartments are equipped with
community laundries in the base
ments. When two women set out
to wash their dirty linen at the same
time In the same tubs. the whole
neighborhood may get splashed. Such
situations have arisen. And now regu-
lar assignments Of hours are worked
out for each family. It saves time
and arguments, and maybe bit Of
scratching.
Forums Held at Hall.
With q community hall in which the
tenants are free to gather, words have
to be used about something. Some
times they are protests from left wing
groups. And these call for replies from
the MANAGEMENT. An outgrowth fire.
ouently are forums for the discussion
OF current events. And when camera
clubs are organized. the manager has
to take up the problem Of establishing
dark rooms.
The rent Is set by the cost Of opera
ton and maintenance. plus enough to
make the interest and amortization
charges on the loan made by the
Federal Government.
As . result. three room apartments
rent for as little as $l6.40 q month.
with $5.95 extra for heat, water and
liehts. A qualification is that the per-
son renting the apartment must be
living under lower -than.standard con-
ditions and must be earning not more
than five times the total expense of
the apartment. And, also, there must
be q vacancy.
But all of the dwellers in the hous-
ing project are interested in seeing
that every one else pays the rent be-
cause If any one fails to pay, that in
creases the cost Of operation and
pushes up the rent for everybody else.
5ol Families in One Project.
Before long the Federal Govern
ment expects to be landlord to thou
sands of apartment dwellers. Already
504 families have moved into the
fleetwood project in Atlanta. Sim
ilarly, new apartments will be opened
early in the year in Montgomery, Ala;
Miami, Fla, and Cleveland. And by
the end of 1887, the Housing Division
of the P. w. A. expects 50 Federally-
built developments in IS cities to be
housing rs, 600 families.
That sounds like . lot of housing.
But the Public Works Administration
figures there are 5000, 900 slum-dwell-
ing families in the country. Which
means that lot more housing could be
done. And Congress Is likely to hear
more of the matter soon.
In its first housing program the
Public Works Administration tried CO.
operating with private enterprise. 1t
loaned money to corporations, requir-
ing them to build according to certain
high standards and to limit their
profits 30 the rent would stay down.
The result was seven limited-diH-
dend developments. which p. w. A.
officials say are working beautifully,
except that if they operate to show
any profit at all they cannot get rents
within the reach OF slum dwellers.
They hit families a little below middle
@ in the income scale-but 1t takes .
real bargain to ring the ball for slum
income.
$13e,soo,ooO Spent Or Obligated.
p. w. A. officials ray that Is why
they went into q $50, ,o00, 900 program
of straight Federal building. That |
sum Is all spent or obligated now.
Some Of the specifications observed
are: Seventy per cent Of the develop
ment site to be vacant of buildings to
assure adequate grounds: not more
than three stories to Q building; cross
ventilation in every room: no more
than two people per bed room, plus one
to be allowed to sleep in the living
room; hot and cold water and all mod
ern conveniences In every apartment.
The tenants are selected by the local
and an Advisory Commit |
tee of local citizens.
The 2.oo0 souls housed In the project |
constitute . veritable town, with
streets, sidewalks, acres Of grounds,
community auditorium, eight stores,
ETC., and to get the maximum benefit |
out Of all this community equipment, |
the Housing Division endeavors to OBJ |
tain . certain amount Of organization !
by the tenants. An assistant manager |
OF the project devotes his whole time |
to tenant relations.
Tenant Relations Studied.
In preparing for the day when it |
will be operating so villages, the Hous- |
ing Division sent an expert up to Hill |
side In New York, one OF p. w. AS
limited dividend Developments, to study |
tenant relationA