Evening star., 1946-02-26
Letters to The Star
Offers a Not Unreasonable Plan
For Chas Tenants.
ro tha rditor ~ rhe st.r.

To the Editor Of The Star:
am one Of approximately 800 resi-
dents of the Chastleton Apartments,
1701 Sixteenth street NV, whose per-
manent abode has been located there
for many years, and / have observed
that much space in your newspaper has
been devoted recently to discussions Of
ways and means Of alleviating the criti-
cal housing shortage and preventing the
diversion Of scarce building materials
to purposes which aggravate rather
than relieve the situation. Thus en-
couraged, I am hopeful that you can
hnd space for this letter.
You perhaps will recall that at the
beginning of the war the residents Of
this apartment house were threatened
with eviction to make room for . con-
tingent of WAVES; but concerted ac-
ton on the part Of the residents, q
heavy percentage of whom are Govern
ment workers, and reconsideration by
the Navy Department Of the wisdom
Of evicting permanent residents for the
benefit Of more or less transient visi-
tors, resulted in change of plans which
permitted us to retain our homes and
make our contributions to the Govern
ment service and the war effort without
the dislocations which otherwise would
have been inflicted upon us.
Building Sold to Private Owners.
While the war problems still remain
With us and the housing emergency Is
more critical than ever, we now are
threatened with the prospect of an
other wholesale eviction. The prop
erty has been sold and. according to the
papers. the new owners propose to con-
vert these apartments into one-room
transient hotel accommodations Ini-
tial steps already have been taken by
verbal notifications given to occupants
of the seventh and eighth floors that
their apartments are needed for the
transient reconversion process, and the
sword Of Damocles hangs over the head
of all other residents Of this building.
We realize that the rights Of private
ownership are involved in this case
rather than governmental seizure as in
the previous episode; and we are aware
of the fact that converting the property
into transient accommodations would be
much more lucrative to the owners at
the present time; but 1t would seem
that the Government should feel some
concern over the housing needs Of per-
manent residents Of the District and
the operation of any priorities control
which permits the use Of scarce build
ing materials for purposes destructive
of the very objectives Of that control.
Would Pay Increased Rent.
We acknowledge that the owners are
confronted with meeting increases in
operational costs and we can understand
their interest In making their invest
ment profitable, but 1t appears to us
that for the duration Of the housing
emergency these factors should be sub
servient, within limits, to the dominat-
ing necessity for the preservation of
permanent accommodations for a sub
stantial portion Of the Districts popu-
lation occupying this and other similar
apartment houses; and we think that
some means should be available to pre-
vent these threatened clusters.
We are not unreasonable and, judg-
ing from the reactions OF numerous
tenants in this building with whom I
have discussed the mater, we would not
object to q fair increase in rent, al
lowabls under the existing rent con-
troll law. II the owners would reinstate
the normal service heretofore enjoyed,
such as making necessary repairs, re-
placing fallen plaster and peeling wall
paint and giving US essential elevator
service "A hours a day, and would re-
store our sense of security by signing a
yearly lease with each occupant whose
rent Is raised. We believe this would
establish a pattern which could be fol-
lowed in many other apartment houses
in the District without working any
undue hardship upon the tenants and
at the same time enabling the owners
to meet increased operational costs and
produce a reasonable return on their
investments. PERTURBED TENANT.