wae? NIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LI ‘iii, X0041 23480One Million People in Small Houses BY HELEN L. PARRISH PHILADELPHIA NATIONAL HousinGc AssocIATION PUBLICATIONS No. 7 rice. en @ents Third Edition July, 1917 105 East 22nd Street, New York CityY "lp | Y Pye REAL HOMES FOR WORKINGMEN. Fach House, 6 Rooms and Bath. Rent, $15 a Month, ONE MILLION PEOPLE IN SMALL HOUSES—PHILADELPHIA HELEN L. PARRISH OCTAVIA HILL ASSOCIATION, PHILADELPHIA With our knowledge of the evils of tenement houses in America, why do tenement houses continue to be built? Why are associations organized to promote model tenements and not for the substitution of some better kind of housing for the people? The unanimous verdict of the 1,400 delegatés) tc the International Hous- ing Congress at Vienna in 1910, condemned the tenement dwelling, on the grounds of health and social welfare. Great Britain contended that on the grounds also of cost its indictment is just. It was argued by Mr. Aldridge of England that a normal, healthy dwelling for a workingman’s family consists of three bedrooms, a living room, a scullery, and a bath, and that it is even now impossible in continental cities, to approach this standard in block dwell- ines at a rental within the reach of the working people. It was shown that in Great Britain the cost of the room, including the cost of the site, in the cot- tage or one-family dwelling is less than the cost of the room alone in the block building; and the discussions of the congress offered many valuable sugges- tions toward furthering the substitution of the small house for the tenement. In many American cities the significance of this subject is not yet appar- ent to the average citizen. The one-family house was originally the universal Note.—The first edition of this pamphlet was printed in 1911. Between then and January Ist, 1916, to which date the figures apply, as now revised, there was comparatively little change in building costs and rents. Since then, however, and especially in 1917, these costs have greatly fluctuated. 3KitTcHEN maVESTIBULE s FIRSTTiccR PLAN SECOND Fleer PLAN MOUSE HOR BAGH FAMILY. Two-story Brick Houses, 4 Rooms and Bath. Rent, $13 a Month.type; the tenement is a development of later da crowded communities it is already of the first importance. In outlying dis- tricts of Greater New York, among green fields and unimproved areas, the “horrible example,” even though built according to the new law, persists and repeats itself, and the infection is rapidly spreading to surrounding cities. Can it be that this kind of building has become a habit with the builders, and that a habit is allowed without question to control an issue such as this? The contrasting type of the small house in Philadelphia has given rise in its various stages of development to many and serious difficulties, but this attempt to describe it is prompted by the belief that it is the better method of housing, the only method that ultimately will offer a solution of the great housing problem with which all our cities, great and small, must some day wrestle. There is the good small house and the bad small house; the small house on its own street and with it s own yard, and the small house crowded in behind a large house on the rear of lots or in narrow alleys, wherever the greed of landlords, before the law forbade. could find a footing for it. There is the small house whose rent is too high, which when times are hard and work is scarce has to house more than its own one family for whose need it is adapted. These are some of its phases, and yet, even in slum districts, the evils arising from its overcrowding and misuse are less serious than those of the tenement, for it is more readily reconstructed and less costly to destroy. ys, but in many large and 7 In the newer sections of a city and in its newer forms it may become the step- ping stone to garden cities and to a realization of the dreams of city planners, while the tenement will forever prevent its city being a city of homes. Four reasons are usually given why this method of housing has suc- ceeded in Philadelphia: first, the topography of the city with the low price of YHfy 7 Ly Uy Yy Yy Do HOMES OF UNSKILLED LABORERS. Tens of Thousands of These in Philadelphia; 6 Rooms and Bath. Rent, $13 and $14 a Month.land: second, the municipal regulations favoring the small house; third, the readiness of financial institutions to loan money for building operations; fourth, the desire of the people to own their own homes. In this discussion it is hoped to show that Philadelphia’s situation 1s no longer a peculiar one. Rapid transit and the decentralization of industries give other communities similar opportunities, though it may be necessary for them to get some impetus in this direction through stronger and better legis- lation, or by the initiative of philanthropic effort, or by the experiments of enlightened business interests. But Philadelphia’s example at least points the way. First, then, in regard to the city itself. It is situated on an undulating plain with an extended water front and covers an area of 130 square miles. It is made up of a number of boroughs brought together under one government by an act of consolidation in 1885. It thus contains various centers of com- mercial and manufacturing activity and the natural growth about these cen- ters, extending over and filling in the stretches of unoccupied land between them, has contributed largely to its development. An excellent street car system makes a five-cent fare to extreme points. Its land values have always been remarkably unifornt and low for a citv of its size. Within twenty-five or thirty minutes of the City Hall, build- ing land with street and municipal improvements can be bought for from $14,000 to $16,000 an acre. If the maximum number of forty houses be allowed on this space, built on lots of fourteen to fifteen by fifty to sixty feet each, the price would be about $400 for each of these lots. The zone where such prices obtain is receding constantly to the edge of the unimproved areas, which are waiting for the approach of the trolley lines and the opening of streets, but these figures may be taken to suggest roughly the basis on which the building operations in small houses are undertaken. Second, the building requirements as to foundations, walls, joists, etc., are much less severe for houses less than sixteen feet wide. Fourteen feet, how- ever, is the minimum width of house allowed, and in many of the present operations it is found advantageous to increase the size of lots, even a few inches in width adding greatly to the desirability of a house. It is said that the leniency of these municipal regulations in Philadelphia is a strong factor in the success of the small two-story house. On the other hand, no house can be built on an existing street which is less than fourteen feet wide, and all new streets opened must be at least forty feet wide from house line to house line. Also. the owner must in the first in- stance meet all the charges for street improvements, although he only carries as a permanent charge the care of the curb and sidewalk. For a lot fourteen feet wide, these charges are: SEWSH, GLO [OSI MOON ace hee en ee ee eee eer $21.00 Wiel tami len iinet a OOM pCi tO Otte sie ne 8 ee a ee a 14.00 ROA Wave texte teers aspmalt ab 20 Cents per squiare tool... Fo ora0) Gini eign COMED Ciel O Olen ee es 2 ae ee 7.70 Sidewalk, 8x 14 feet; asphalt at 20 cents per square foot 22.40 $98.70 _ The fire regulations require that all houses, except in certain outlying dis- Rulers OF tae Clty, must be OF brick orf stone. The small house is safeguarded in cities of the first class in Pennsvlvania by a law passed in 1895, before the business interests behind the beginnings of a tenement house movement were strong enough to offer serious oppo- sition. This law makes the building of tenement houses so costly that it has practically stonned their erection for the poor. It is now applied chiefly to the building of high-class apartment houses. 6Oe ALES Eel First Floor Seconp Floor MECHANICS’ HOMES. Six Rooms and Bath. Rent, $16 a Month. Brick Houses, Built in Rows. Sale Price, $2,000.NEWER TYPE FOR SKILLED LABORERS. Six to Eight Rooms and Bath. Rent, $16 Up. Thousands of These in Philadelphia. The contracting builder, when an operation in small houses is to be un- dertaken, usually buys the land by a small cash payment, arranging for the balance of its value by mortgages or ground rents. The money for these operations is largely obtained through the trust companies. First mortgages on real estate are by the law of Pennsylvania a legal security, and as trust funds can only be invested in such securities, these mortgages are greatly in demand. The companies will advance from sixty per cent. to sixty-six and two-thirds per cent. of the cost of the completed operation. The rate charged is ustially five and four-tenths per cent. They make collateral loans—con- tingent on the advance of the work. The builder must give bonds and the trust company often employs an inspector of its own, in addition to the city inspectors, to watch the building. Sometimes the mortgage is placed on the operation as a whole, and when the work is done this is separated and made to apply to the individual house. These operations have been so successful financially that they are con- sidered safe and profitable investments, and a builder who has proved himself conservative and intellicent in the use of capital has no difficulty in obtaining it. The financial institutions have been amply justified in taking the risks and have profited greatly by the results. The loans are considered so secure that sometimes in transferring its interests. in a mortgage to a client the company will guarantee against possible loss, the client agreeing to accept five per cent. on the loan and the company reserving four-tenths per..cent. as a bonus. for the guarantee. _Onniein, of course, the operation is financed by the contractor. He will himself hold the mortgages as the houses are sold, reimbursing himself gradually for the outlay made. One contractor who is also in the real estate business states that of 800 sales of houses he had built not one was thrown back on his hands. The ground is usually obtained in blocks of about five acres and is divided by streets that must “run from one public street to another in a staight line.”* The best price for construction is made on a basis Note.—Of late years, City Councils, at times, on the advice of the Bureau of Surveys, making of curved streets. approve the 8of twenty or more houses, and the specifications for each sub-contractor are So systematized for the uniform rows of houses—the corner ones only being larger and more elaborate—that the work can be done at remarkably low figures when compared with the cost of building a single house. The smallest house now being built has four rooms arranged as shown in the first plan, or with a bathroom built out as an overhanging frame extension at the rear. Sometimes. also, there is a shed kitchen for summer use. In the older sections these houses, often with few conveniences, rent from eight to twelve. dollars per month. In the newer sections their rent is thirteen or four- teen dollars. They show in its simplest form a plan of construction which in its further development is very complete. In its next stage a passage-way to the stairs is taken off the front room, and a kitchen forming an ell is added. There are thus three bedrooms on the second floor. This is the really typical small dwelling and the one most in demand. Its two chief characteristics are that each room opens to the outer air and that each room has its separate en- trance. In the newer neighborhoods the demand for more. conveniences has grown until it includes cemented cellar, furnace, stationary washtubs, bay window, often a porch, besides the range, gas, bathroom, and sink. There is always the danger of careless work and inferior materials, but the model, as shown in the accompanying plans is completely and intelligently designed. The rents for these six-room houses range from eleven or twelve dollars in old districts, where the houses are old and without modern improvements, up to twenty-two dollars for some of the larger and most Complete omnes. in V7 Y Yi Yyy MI RACI IVE BACK YARDS OH LAESE HOUSES, Light, Air, Privacy—Real Homes. 9some neighborhoods they bring even higher rents, and again they are developed still further by the extension of the ell, giving four rooms on each floor. The average cost of the two-story houses built in 1915, without the cost of the land, as reported to the Bureau of Building Inspection when permits were applied for, was $2,086. This average 1s raised by the large numbers of two-story eight- and ten-rcom dwellings in residential neighborhoods. The average actual cost price of such houses as have been described, and which are shown in the photographs of typical streets, is probably trom $1,300 to $1,600, without the cost of land or profit to the contractor. It is claimed that these extensive building operations could not take place unless the houses were built for immediate sale. During the year I915 8 806 two-story dwellings were erected at the estimated cost of $18,390,800, exclusive of the cost of the land. In the past ten years 70,000 have been built, and there is a total of over 200,000 such houses in the city. The census of IgIo gives only twenty-six and six-tenths per cent. of the families as living in houses owned by themselves, though the number of different owners ot real estate is said to be between 150,000’and 160,000. The explanation is that many new houses are bought in groups for investments. Many workingmen own houses as investments, and many have moved from those that they first bought to larger ones or to new neighborhoods, still holding their first pur- chase as a source of income. The desire for home-owning has been encouraged and reinforced by the building and loan associations. It has been said both that these associations have made the small house in Philadelphia and that the small house seeker has made these associations. From whichever standpoint they are considered their influence has been of immense social value, not only in the acquisition of houses, but also in the encouragement of thrift and the training that they give their members in co-operative business enterprise. Thus, the development of the small house has developed also the desire for the small investment in real estate, the attainment of which is made possible by the advantageous terms by which sales are made. As the houses in a large operation are finished they are immediately put up for sale. A cash payment of $300, or even less, is sufficient to obtain pos- session. The terms of sale would be in this way: Ce se eas ck ee $300.00 Faigs um MOO Cua tEOtmNCIICCN tet ek ie eh ee 1,200.00 SECON Gm lO ga Gems OME aCe te oe i ee nk A ee 500.00 2,060.00 The yearly charges on such a house would be: MCHeSIMONMIIRG EI Ont Ca goadtwo.4e Den Gente = cc. feta ee ee Ce Le $64.80 iichecmONESc COM imOnima gemalO MenICeht: =. ee ee 30.00 sires) Onppasccsseday alive ats wid 00) 150, Sse ee a 21.00 WVEAC TREAT CS geen ee Se ae Base Sits. eee 10.00 $125.80 This equals a monthly payment for rent of about twelve dollars, without . repairs and incidental expenses. If the second mortgage is held by a building and loan association the dues and interest on the shares of stock representing this mortgage would amount to sixty dollars each year; but by these pay- ments the mortgage would be gradually liquidated, and would be cancelled when the shares matured at the end of about twelve years. By the census of 1900 there was an average of five and four-tenths per- sons to a dwelling in Philadelphia. Now, according to the Cline mecOnGcr tor 1910, the 1,549,000 persons live in 325,000 dwellings, an average of four and h@(0x (6. 6 Lts Shed kitchen Opening A Fer/or -- 2 | | First FLooR | Secona Floor ANIN(OMPIGUE IE IPSIR IE (OUR IMUEKCIBLAINIMCESY IBKOUMUES: Six Rooms and Bath.seven-tenths persons to a dwelling. The building of houses has thus out- stripped the increase of population ‘and the standard of one house for a family seems about to be attained. This means a gradual moving of the better-to-do classes into the newer neighborhoods and a readjustment ‘of population in the older districts. It has not been the purpose of this paper to discuss the housing con- ditions of the many foreigners who are grouped according to nationality in large districts. Here the supply of small houses at low rents is not great enough to meet the demand. Houses built originally for a family of the better class are now, under regulation and inspection, used as tenement houses, and are practically meeting the need for extra accommodations for these classes. Among these people, too, the tradition of the city that the small house is the better is speedily accepted and is what they strive to attain. It is not possible to give in any concrete form evidences of the advantages to the people of Philadelphia of this method of living. It is only possible to oreee ae at and to suggest points of comparison for other places. Some’ years ago it was found that the number of peculations discovered among the emp loyes in a large department store in New York were greatly in excess of those in a similar establishment in Philadelphia. After investigation it was concluded that the cause for this lay in the fact that in Philadelphia each employe, outside of his relation ‘with the store, had a distinct position to sustain. He owned or rented a house, or his family did; he had church and neighborhood connections; his character was subject to comment; and if he moved it was with the knowledge and interest of his neighbors. In New York, on the other hand, the man’s identity was lost in a crowded tenement district. As he was known to but few people he could move to another dis- trict of the great city and be completely lost again. In Philadelphia fairs or festivals for the benefit of some church or charit- able interest are often advertised in summer as being given by: the people of some small street, each small house being decorated and contributing its quota to the entertainment. Porch parties are frequently given. In addition to such social advantages the life aa the household can be regulated more normally. The sleeping rooms are upstairs, separated from the daily household tasks and interests, giving greater privacy and quiet than when the rooms open one from eae Some yard space, however small, draws forth unexpected tastes or interests, and the mother of a family has opportunities for fresh air and eine which she never can have where go- ing out means leaving her work and descending many stairs. These all have a connection with fhe fact that approximately 75,000 houses had been bought up to January 1, 1916, with the aid of building and loan associations, and that six savings banks held $192,326,906 belonging to 432,309 depositors. Many elements must be considered in dt rawing conclusions from the death rate in wards of differing characteristics. It is suggestive, however. to find that even in the foreign sections, Where overcrowding and many insanitary conditions exist, the low buildings and yard spaces give much light and air and the figures, when compared with the city as a w hole, are not hich. Thus, while no claim is made that all of those who live in small house are well housed, it is contended that this plan of building can be made very successful financially; that it fosters a conservative, law -abiding spirit in the community; and that it gives to even the smallest wage-earner an opportunity by thrift and economy to earn a home, where he can conserve the best possible standard of family life.