Evening star., 1940-10-17
Housing
Continued From First Page.)

mitted to remain under certain con-
ditions by paying an economic rent.
The economic rent would defray all
costs of amortization, but involves
no profit to the A. D. A.
The initial rental scale ranges
from s11 or SIP to $33 per month
including an estimated monthly
average of $738 per dwelling unit
for hot and cold water, electricity
for lighting and gas for cooking.
BY deducting this utility charge
from the established overall rent,
the amount each tenant would have
to pay for mere shelter is the lowest
level practicable under the law, in
terms of cost of living in the Dis
trict of Columbia, it was said.
The highest incomes acceptable at
this time, Mr.. Ihlder said, are 81 800
for families with less than three
minor dependents and 1854 for
families with three or more minor
dependents.
Selection Office Opened.
The A. D. A. has opened a tenant
selection Office at 758 Sixth street
Sc, an apartment which 1t acquired
as part of the site of the Ellen
Wilson dwellings. White families
now living in substandard or over
crowded homes should make appli-
cation there between $3.50 am. and
4 pm.
Other groups of the Fort Dupont
project will be occupied after No
vember l in quick succession. APP
plications also will be received for
prospective tenants Of the Wilson
project. which is nearing completion.
The exact rentals there cannot be
determined until all building costs
are definitely known. The other
nine projects being developed are
for colored occupancy.
The policy of graded rents
adopted for the Fort Dupont dwell
ings took nearly four months to
negotiate with the United States
Housing Authority, which advances
the loans for the local program. 1t
follows in principle the method
which the A. D. A. tried unsuccess-
fully to negotiate two years ago.
The scale takes account Of the
cost of the property and then uti-
Lies the Federal subsidy. or annual
contribution and the amount Of the
tax exemption allowed by the Dis
trict government to grade the rents
in accordance with tenants in
comes to the lowest practicable
level. Living costs in the District
are taken into account.
Level In District Is Sill.
This level in the District, the
A. D. A. found, is rent of $11 a
month. Beginning at this level,
the rents are gradually increased
at the rate of 81 per month for each
IS increase in income, then at the
rate of $150, then at the rate of 81
until the family income warrants
an economic rent. The reason for
the smaller rates of rent increases
in the lowest income brackets, and
correspondingly higher in the upper
brackets, Is that food costs, clothes
and other necessities may remain
fairly constant.
At the desire of the U. S. H. A.,
the local agency will limit initial
occupancy to families with incomes
at time of admission to a $l.320
ceiling" if they have fewer than
two minor dependents. With two
or more minors, the ceiling was
fixed at 1854. Top rents, therefore,
will be $27, $3.50, $50, $3l so and
$33, depending on the size of the
dwelling
However, there is this difference
in the ordinary method of apply
ing graded rents. A tenant now
accepted may remain through his
income increases, with correspond
ing increases of rent until, with an
income of $1,441 he will be charged
an economic rent. If he has three
or more minor dependents he may
not be charged an economic rent
until after his income reaches ST.
484.
Forty-five per cent of the Fort
Dupont units, under the new policy,
will be allocated to families with
an income range from $1.201 to ST.
800 and whose rents vary from
s25 to s33 per month. Thirty-five
per cent of the families, with in
comes of $901 to $1,000, will pay
from SIT to $29 rent. Twenty per
cent of the units are allocated to
families within the $600-$900 in
come range. The rent will be $11
or s12 to SIG.
Would Avoid "BOttleneck."
A reason for the different per-
centages in these three groups, Mr..
Ihlder explained, is to avoid the
danger of a ''bottleneck" that would
prevent families rising from one
economic grade to higher one.
The graded rental system could,
of course, be carried down with in
crease of rental subsidy, until rents
are only 81 a month, were it not
for requirements of the housing
law. Revenue from rents must be
enough to pay operating costs of a
project, and family income may not
exceed five times the rent, or six
times in cases where there are three
or more minor dependents.
"Obviously,'' Mr.. Ihlder said, "a
family income of IS or Sc per month