Another familiar eye-sore on Bedford avenue was still standing,--worse
still, it was rented out, at least in spots,--three families in
the front, and three in the rear buildings,--Negroes and whites.
It looked more dilapidated and dirtier than when I visited it last
winter. The owner was notified over a year ago that the houses must
be repaired and certain alterations made if they were to be occupied
as tenements. She pleaded a heavy mortgage and a dying sister. The
mortgage still holds, the sister is still dying, she is unable to find
a purchaser for the property, and in the meantime two-room "apartments"
are still to be secured for twelve dollars a month, with all ancient
inconveniences:--water to be obtained from a hydrant in the yard, and
shared possibly with eleven families; foul privy compartments also
to be shared with neighboring families, and perchance an occasional
passerby. None but the lowest class of tenants will live in these
to-be-abandoned dwellings, and their continued existence constitutes
a grave danger from a sanitary viewpoint, not only to the immediate
neighborhood, but to the entire city. So long as the law permits such
breeding places for disease, so long will the fight against filth
diseases be a losing one.
Stewart's Row, on West Carson street, as I found it late this fall,
was evidently destined to maintain the standard of the neighborhood in
the matter of bad housing as originally set by its neighbor, Painter's
Row; two wooden rows of two-family houses, rickety, leaking, sheltering
thirteen families; two vaults at the rear, one with contents exposed;
two hydrants the sole water supply; an obstructed drain; the hillside
decorated with a disgusting combination of waste water, garbage, and
rubbish.
Allegheny has added her quota to the problem of housing in Greater
Pittsburgh. The tenement house inspectors in the course of their
census-taking have unearthed more than one example of rank conditions
on the North Side. In one tenement the ground floor was occupied as a
stable; a cellar revealed the piled up accumulations of years; privy
vaults flourish and household water supply is noticeable chiefly
because of its inadequacy. Over one-fourth of the entire number of
tenements found in Pittsburgh are located on the North Side. According
to the chief inspector at least fifty per cent of these are in a bad
condition.
The Tenement House Department has thus found plenty of work ready at
hand for its inspectors. Of the 3,364 tenement houses enumerated by the
census, nearly fifty per cent are old dwellings originally planned and
constructed to accommodate one family. Frequently, no provision is made
to meet the demands of the additional number of families. Privacy is
destroyed, closet facilities and water supply are inadequate, cellar
and basement rooms are made to do duty as living and sleeping rooms and
there is no protection from fire danger. Of the remaining number of
tenements less than one-half are new-law tenements.
_TENEMENT CENSUS._
_Nationality._ _No. of Fam._ _Nationality._ _% of Total._
American 5,831 American 47.41
Polish 2,054 Slavs 24.64
Hebrew 1,077 Hebrew 8.76
German 963 German 7.83
Negro 597 Negro 4.85
Italian 443 Italian 3.60
Slovak 360 British 1.44
Bohemian 176 Misc. 1.47
Croatian 165 ------
Hungarian 113 100.00
Irish 104
Syrian 98
Lithuanian 67
Russian 57
English 50
Greek 37
Austrian 31
French 21
Welsh 12
Scotch 11
Swedish 10
Servian 8
Finnish 4
Chinese 7
Norwegian 1
Spanish 1
Turkish 1
Danish 1
------
Tot'l No. of fam. 12,300--No. of people 42,699
No. of fam. --Boarders 3,200
taking boarders 1,532 ------
Total population in tenements 45,899
The accompanying tables show the various nationalities which recruit
tenement dwellers and the share contributed by each. Nearly one-half
are American born; one-fourth are Slavs. Next in numerical importance
are the Hebrews, then the Germans, Negroes, Italians and British.
The remaining scattered groups are included under the heading
"Miscellaneous." Pittsburgh's tenements shelter 12,300 families,
containing 42,699 people; 1,532 families take in boarders and of these
boarders there are 3,200. The total number of people living under
tenement conditions (three or more families to the house), is 45,899.
The welfare of over forty thousand people is dependent then on tenement
house standards and their enforcement in Pittsburgh. This is perhaps
eight per cent of the total population, a small proportion when
compared with New York for instance. The primary housing problem of
the wage-earning population in Pittsburgh, remains then not a tenement
problem in the strict legal sense, but a one- and two-family dwelling
problem. This is the aspect of the situation which Pittsburgh must face
in its entirety if the city is to profit by the experience of older
communities.
"If you think Pittsburgh is bad, you ought to see Glasgow," said one
man. "Look at the tenements in New York," said another. Yet, if the
city's phenomenal growth continues to be equalled by her phenomenal
indifference to the necessity of raising the housing standard for her
least paid laborers, the day may come, and soon, when Pittsburgh will
make a close third to these cities. Because of hard times, vast numbers
of immigrants have left Pittsburgh, and temporarily the rental agencies
have plenty of idle houses upon their lists. These houses throw
light on the situation. Two, three, four, and five-room apartments
are available at an average monthly rental of from two and a half to
five dollars a room in many sections of the city. There are also some
single houses to be obtained for the same price. Over half of these
dwellings are without any modern sanitary accommodations, and many are
in a wretched state of repair. The majority of the houses are in the
most sordid quarters of the city where living is high, at any price.
Certain dwellings are offered especially for foreigners or Negroes,
dilapidation, lack of conveniences, and an undesirable locality being
distinguishing features of these houses.
[Illustration: COMBINATION REAR TENEMENT AND ALLEY DWELLING, WEBSTER
AVENUE. NEGROES AND WHITES LIVE HERE.]
We label the foreigner as an undesirable neighbor; we offer him the
meanest housing accommodations at our disposal; we lump him with the
least desirable classes of our citizens; then we marvel at his low
standards of living. Give him better, cheaper, houses where he may
have a decent and comfortable home, instead of a mere shelter from the
elements, unwholesome, overcrowded and expensive, and then see what his
standard of living would be.
The natural conformation of the land with its steep declivities, and
its winding, tortuous valleys, has added much to the difficulty of
the housing situation. Adequate transportation facilities would open
up territory on the South and West sides where countless people could
be housed. The trend of the mills away from the city to nearby river
sites, attracted by lower tax rates and unlimited space will offer
further relief and improvement, especially where great employers of
labor, in laying out their plants as at Mariana, and Vandergrift and
Gary take heed of the proper housing and sanitation of the towns that
will grow up about them. As the situation stands to-day, however,
bad housing conditions are multiplying in the surrounding industrial
towns; and they must face the same problem. Its seriousness demands
the formulation of public policies that shall encourage every form of
building operation that will produce sanitary houses at low rentals,
whether they are private homes or company houses of creditable
standard, or dwellings put up by building and loan companies,
commercial builders, or co-operative housing companies, along English
lines.
A Chamber of Commerce report states: "The city of Pittsburgh, along
with its vast industrial development, has grown so phenomenally
in population during the past ten years that it has been clearly
impossible for the growth in housing accommodation to keep pace.
Careful and comprehensive investigations show conclusively that the
housing facilities of the Greater City have completely broken down,
not only in point of reasonably proper conditions but in amount of
available real estate."
[Illustration: VIEW OF YARD SHOWN OPPOSITE.
Corner of rear buildings. Pump in foreground of picture opposite is the
sole water supply for both rows of houses. Here rubbish is added to
dilapidation.]
"We have not the time, nor is it our function to investigate the
housing situation of the city. Let the charitable or philanthropic
agencies make a systematic study of the evils that exist, and we
will gladly lend the support of our influence to any recommendations
which they may offer," said a leading spirit in one of Pittsburgh's
great commercial organizations. To this man the proper housing of the
workingman had a charitable aspect.
"We don't want to go into the housing business. We are manufacturers,
not real estate dealers. We may be forced to build houses in certain
new districts in order to attract and hold labor, but in an old,
settled community let the laboring man take care of himself. We don't
believe in paternalism." I quote the president of a great steel company.
Said a prominent real estate man: "There certainly are other more
attractive investments for private capital than the building of small
houses,--taxes are high, the demand for such dwellings has fallen off
considerably and the returns are uncertain, owing to the difficulty of
collecting rents in times such as these."
And the laboring man says: "I want a decent home at a moderate rental,
within reasonable distance of my work." Can he get it? Rigorous
sanitary work by the health authorities will help. But more than that
is needed.
[Illustration: PHIPPS MODEL TENEMENT.
Rebecca Street, Allegheny, October 21, 1908. Four room
apartments rent from $4.25 to $5 a week; three room
apartments from $3.25 to $4 per week. Steam heat, gas
slot meter, sinks and water closets in each apartment.]
[Illustration: YARD SHOWING BATTERIES OF PRIVY VAULTS AND DILAPIDATED
CONDITION OF STEPS LEADING TO THIRD STORY. TWO ROOM APARTMENTS RENT FOR
$12 PER MONTH.]