Evening star., 1938-11-29
D. c. Housing Needs Shown
Social and Financial Drain of Inadequate
Quarters Revealed by Figures

number of families over the number
of new dwellings.
Former Condemnations.
During the 20 years of active life,
which was ended by court injunc-
ton in 1926, the District Board for
the Condemnation of Insanitary
Dwellings condemned 5,325 dwelling
units and caused the actual demo-
lition of 1872, of which LIPS fronted
on squalid and disreputable alleys.
Demolitions in recent years, how
ever, have not reached such large
proportions. Only 81 dwellings were
razed during 1888 and 1894 and, since
beginning operations early in 1885,
the Alley Dwelling Authority's ac-
tivities have resulted in the demoli-
ton of 1873 unfit dwellings.
Asserting that unless loW-rent
homes are constructed by the Alley
Dwelling Authority there will con-
tinue to be a shortage of decent,
safe and sanitary dwellings for fami-
lies of low incomes in Washington, F."
the A. D. AS application stressed
these salient points:
At least 5000 dwellings in the
District are in need of major re-
pairs. or are totally unfit for
human habitation.
Investigation of a number Of
cheap rOoming houses which pro-
vide shelter for many of the citys
families showed high degree of
overcrowding. poor plumbing IA
cilities. and great infestation by
rats and insects" AS typical of
these conditions, one building
with seven rooms was found to
house 81 occupants. of whom 20
were children, while another
housed 81 persons, including 16
children. in 13 rooms.
Alley dwellings almost invari-
ably have rotten flooring, broken
plaster, dilapidated and danger
GUS stairs, and possess neither
indoor toilets nor running water.
Link to Death Rate.
Conditions such as these were re-
garded as one of the chief causes
contributing to Washington's ex-
traordinarily high death rate from
tuberculosis. During 1887 the Capt.
tai ranked fourth among As cities
having a tubercular death rate in
excess OF 80 persons per 100000 pop
ulation. With a total of 593 deaths
during 1887, Washington rated SO
per 100000 population as against an
average of SO deaths per 100000 for
the entire United States.
The A. D. AS application cited
the following description of a slum
dwelling as being illustrative of the
type of dwelling available today for
the lowest rents:
In one such old house he found
family of four or five occupying
each room on the first floor; heated
by a coal stove: window panes out;
eating, sleeping, living, tumbling
over one another "a hours a day;
laundry hung all over the room
so the children had constant colds;
using kerosene lamps; the only
closet used to store coal; the only
bathroom on the floor above and
the tub so rusted it cannot be used"
Graphically describing "the heart
of Washington's slums," which lies
on both sides of the north south axis
of the Capitol and extends across
the older sections of the city from
Florida avenue to the confluence of
the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers,
the Alley Dwelling Authority stated:
Within this one particular Sec
ton of the city comprising about
three square miles, or less than 5
per cent of the entire land area of
the District, there dwells approxi-
mately IS per cent of the Districts s
population. Almost 30 per cent of
the entire Negro population is
housed within this section.
Other Decadent Areas.
This core of slum neighborhoods
is by no means the only decadent
area within the District; the city
has many such neighborhoods in
outlying sections. But all the typi-
cal elements Of shm living-and
slum dying-are to be found in this
one central section which is the
heart of Washington's slums.
''On the basis of a real property