Evening star., 1945-02-25
IAppruising Property
For Health Deficiency
New Technique of Inspection
Promises a New Approach
By Ben McKel1oay


Experience has produced certain
standards for expert appraisal Of the
rental or sales value of residential
property.
But there Is no universally acceptable
yardstick by which to appraise house
in terms of its essential healthfulness
as place to live.
house and they will reach a conclusion
acceptable enough to the banker who
is going to lend his depositors' money
for its purchase.
Send out as many health inspectors to
determine whether house is At to live
in and their report is apt to be merely
the expression Of three widely varying
opinions.
Use of established criteria for the OBJ
jective appraisal Of property from the
health standpoint has been the subject
Of recent experiment In a number Of
cities. In Washington two years ago
committee OF health and housing Of
ficials drew up q set Of "Basic Principles
Of Healthful Housing" and from these
principles efforts are being made to de-
velop an appraisal technique which can
be used by public authorities anywhere
to determine health conditions, as re-
lated to housing, and to enforce local
regulations which are applicable.
The experiments are perhaps more
interesting, at this stage, because Of
THAR fY1NItroffa,c fhov, <ha
The future is not so remote when health
regulations relating to housing will be
as strictly enforced as those applying
to proper preparation and sale of food,
or to the prompt quarantine of indi-
viduals afflicted with communicable
disease. While there is still large area
left for exploration and experimental
ton in this field, some evidence is being
accumulated to indicate demonstrable
relationship between housing and health
not merely the health of the occu-
pants Of insanitary housing, but the
health Of the community which toler-
ates insanitary housing.
Using methods Of appraisal suggested
by the Committee on the Hygiene
of Housing Of the American Public
Health Association, two young women
Evelyn L. Parker and Elizabeth Lewis
recently completed for the Washing
ton Housing Association q study OF
five blocks in the "Foggy Bottom" area
Of the first ward.
The blocks lie in q triangle bounded
by New Hampshire and Virginia ave-
nues and Twenty-third street NV.
The site was selected because it en-
braces varied housing-good, bad and
indifferent, home-owned and rental,
Negro and white occupancy, apartments
and rooming houses, single family and
multi-family dwellings, public and pri-
vate housing, frame and brick, with
and without utility facilities. The area
Is in transition. Across Twenty third
street is the site Of the proposed new
George Washington University Hospital.
1t lies within short walking distance
of the White House, Munitions Build
ing, Department Of Interior. the old
Naval Hospital, the National Institute
OF Health and the National Academy
OF Sciences. It Is just outside the
boundaries Of old Hamburg, founded
In 1771-29 years before the Govern
ment came to Washington-and is only
few blocks away from Braddock's
Rock, where Braddock and his vir-
ginians are supposed to have landed
on their way to fight the French and
the Indians It eventually may become
the site Of new public or private insti-
tutional building development.
The appraisal technique consists tn
applying graded penalty scores to con-
ditions which fall below reasonable
standards
Dwellings which come up to standard
have no penalty score, others are graded
from l to 80 points on the basis
Of their deficiencies, such as source
of water supply, location and type of
water supply. sewer connections, bath
and toilet facilities, means Of egress
whether there are two means Of escape
In case Of flre), electric lighting rooms
lacking installed heating fixtures, rooms
without windows, number of persons
to a room and number Of persons per
sleeping area. The actual scores for
the area just surveyed are meaningless
except to those familiar with the
method. But some OF the facts noted
are interesting.
OF 1876 dwelling units inspected, 86.8
per cent were occupied by tenants.
There were 805 per cent Negro house.
holds, 1875 white. Monthly rents ranged
from under $40 1.1 per cent? to over
$40 per unit, and over half the dwelling
units were less than five rooms. More
than half the dwelling units t55 per
cent? had no inside toilets or shared
available toilets with others. Fifty-four
per cent had no bathing facilities.
About one-fourth had no water inside
the unit. In IS per cent of the units
there was only one exit. A fifth Of
the units were without electricity.
The dwelling unit which had the
highest score in penalty points (22D
showed seven basic deficiencies. It had
an outside, shared toilet. There were
no inside bathing facilities It consisted
Of one room, occupied by four per-
sons, had no heat, only one exit and
rented for $3.25 week.
Seventy Of the 1876 dwelling units.
representing 1871 per cent, were each
given 100 or more penalty points. They
lacked inside toilets or baths, most of
them had no inside water outlets and
the rents ranged from $1190 for one
room to $3.50 for six rooms per month.