Evening star., 1942-03-15
Survey Reveals
Shocking Living
Conditions Here
Rundown Houses
Infested With Rots
Menace Health
BY JAMES Y. NEWTON.

Inc DlStrlct RenC ADMINISTRATOR
Is collecting a tremendous amount O.
information which may be used tt
"crack down" on substandard hous.
ing in Washington.
In the course of administering
the Rent Control Act. attaches have
found deplorable living conditions
existing in the city. Much over.
crowding. infestation by rats, run
down houses, improper heating anc
existence of only the crudest bath
room facilities. are some of the
conditions uncovered so far.
Just how far the Administration
can go toward correcting the un-
healthy situation is questionable
The Office is chiefly concerned with
the control of rents and services
for housing and, as was pointed
out, lis not a social agency.
Pressure Clause In Act.
The Administration can exert
measure of pressure on land
lords owning substandard property
through application of a section OF
the act which sets rent ceilings at the
figure charged for comparable ac-
commodations. Enforcement of that
part, however, presents difficulties.
It's hard for us sometimes to find
comparisons" an official said, IN
discussing substandard quarters, for
some of these gems are incompar-
able"
The rent office also can alleviate
the situation somewhat by refusing
to grant landlord requests for rent
increases in the rare instances when
improvements are made to the
tumble-down houses.
Oddly enough, most Of the in
formation analyZed to date has been
gathered as a result of action taken
by landlords themselves, rather than
from complaints of tenants. These
landlords have made some little i'm
provements and have petitioned the
Office for a rent increase. The case
Is investigated and the disturbing
facts are brought to light.
Rat-Infested Quarters.
An example of this is the landlord
who requested increases for num-
Der of houses because he had wired
them for electricity. A talk with
tenants revealed the quarters are
infested with rats. The rodents roam
the yards by day and scamper in the
Of nh M cold tho
rats were so bold that he could
sit on his back steps and pick them
off with a rifle.
Door and window sills in the
houses are rotted. Bath facilities
are of the most antiquated type. Rat
holes in the walls and floor are
covered over with tin. A tenant
said he pulled away a rotted plank
in stairway step and found a rat
nest. Heat is supplied by old
fashioned stoves which the tenants
installed themselves No action has
been taken so far on the request for
rent increase.
A number of instances have been
uncovered where the tenants fur
nish their own heat and heater.
One apartment was heated by a
two-burner oil stove, which the ten
ant bought Some of the houses
have baths, others do not.
Still Bring in Returns.
Most of the substandard houses
are so old. a rent office official said
that they have paid for themselves
in rents several times over. And,
he added. these houses are still
bringing in the returns
In another case, a landlord sought
an increase of $40 month for flats
which rent for $3.50 Investiga-
ton showed that. while habitable,
the accommodations were not as
good as others on the market for
$3.50. The buildings we're more
than Is years old. light and bath
room fixtures were out of date A
space listed as a second bedroom
was a planked-in porch which had
no heat. This case is now up for
decision.
The rent office will investigate
another report that so people are
living in a comparatively small,
three-story rooming house.
An official said he thought that
ignorance of the law is the principal
reason why so little information on
substandard housing has been re-
ceived from tenants.
Eventually, the rent office expects
to have information on all rented
quarters in the District, whether
rooming houses, apartments or sin
gle-family dwellings. From the
thousands of schedules on ROOM
Ing and boarding houses, which were
still pouring in yesterday, much in
formation will be cleaned.
One Bath for 10 RoOmers.
The office. of course. had not had
time to study many returns from
the rooming house census" but ex-
animation of a few disclosed over
crowding and a lack of healthful
accommodations The information
schedules picked at random revealed
two houses each with only one bath
for 10 roomers. Two houses had II
persons per bath. another 16 and
still another had a small number Of
roomers but no bath. The last did
have a toilet District health regu-
lations require bath for every 10
persons.
When all of the information
schedules are in, the Office will have
the most complete data on rooming
houses ever gathered here. Officials
expect nearly $4,000 returns in all.
Obviously, it will require much time
to check all of them. But when the
work is completed it is expected to
bring out many interesting facts
regarding conditions in the Capt.
tails houses of room and board.
Later. information schedules will
be required of all operators of apart
ment houses and landlords who own
one family dwellings. which are
rented. A complete picture of Wash
ington's housing situation will not
be possible until the surveys are
finished.
D l. c. C:I