The Illinois times. (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-19??, 1950-02-10
Growing Lack OF
Sanitation Is Found
In Study

sorry picture, aIeoaoihb :"
study made by the social welfare
committee Of the League of Wo-
men Voters and just made avail
able to local public and private
welfare agencies.
The report notes that many of
the streets are not paved. becom-
ing mud holes or dust bins with
varying weather conditions. Some
streets have no sidewalks.
Although there are many va
cant lots there Is great overcrowd-
ing within the homes. Social work
ers cited rs examples: Il persons
OF children) occupying six
room house. and family Of seven
children and a mother occupying
dark attic room which served
40 thoroughfare for a family in
an adjoining room, and which was
over n rooming house for men
where drunkenness and brawls were
common.
EVEN BACK In 194i, before
the housing shortage had be-
come severe in the community at
large, the Champaign County
Housing authority's survey show
ed that 10 out 587 Negro dwell
hing units were occupied by more
than one family group or had
dodgers, although 81 per cent had
ox1fy one or two bedrooms.
"Now the shortage is so severe
that sheds formerly used as coal
bins or other storage places are
used as dwellings and fiimsy tar
paper shacks have been built out
Of odds and ends. From one to FIVE
Of these makeshift dwellings can
be found In the rear Of one small
lot. IN T
AT q Beech street address 10
individuals lie Of them children)
occupied four shacks. On Boards
ley street 81 persons occupied five
shaeks, served by one outside
privy. The lot was 80 small that
the shacks wire almost touching
AT Dublin street address four
families (seven children) occupied
the main house and shack in the
rear with one outdoor privy. There
are blocks on Beech. Hill. and Oak
streets where clusters of shacks
ara found in the rear of every lot.
I'VE TALKED with a mother
living in one of the shacks. She,
her husband, and six children oc-
cupied = three-room shack the
rent Of which was $17.5O a month.
The rooms were so tiny that dou-
BILE beds nearly filled them, SO low
that the hat Of person Ave feet.
two inches high touched the CELL
ing. Where the stove pipe passed
through the old splintery boards
there was only = small circle of
tin to sehve rs fire protection. Wa
ter had to be carried from an ad-
joining house; there was no pro-
vision for disposal Of waste water
other than to dump II out of doors.
In spite Of these handicaps, the
mother and two youngest children
the only ones at home. were shin
ing clean rs 10 clothes and person.
1.-THE mother said her husband
WAS making $40 q week so that
they could afford better place to
live II one could only be found. Life
was very difficult there; the chill
hrsn were restless and quarrel
some because they had no place to
play and couldn't sleep at night
with 20 many packed in one bed.
The children stayed away from
home ~ much Is they could.
at was almost impossible to
keep the place free Of vermin and
rats which gnawed their way thru
the boards Of the shacks. Social
workers too. hold Of families
where the babies had continual
sores from being bitten by the
rats ut night.
"NAT ONLY the shacks and
sheds but many Of the regular
houses are In q condition hazard
Gus TO health and safety. According
70 social workers and others fami-
liar with the area conditions are
worse than in 1941; more people
crowded into unfit dwellings,, more
condemned structures occupied.
The average rent for these dwell
lings IL $25, $50 q month though
some run ~ high as $50 = month.
Mention has been made Of the
outdoor privies in the shack
homes, but it is not her ealone that
they are found. In 1871 the Cham
paign County Housing authority's
survey showed 3s3 dwellings with
outdoor pTivy and no bath. The
public health district estimates