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One- and two-family houses
Ordinarily one- and two-family houses occupied by one or two families, respectively, do not constitute a problem. Such houses are erected on inexpensive land, usually in the outlying portions of the city, and are frequently occupied by the owners. The occupants, whether owners or tenants, are in an economic position such as enables them to bear the cost of decent accommodations. The difficulty arises, however, when these houses grow old, when the nature of the community changes, when business encroaches and land values rise. The desirability of the district for residential purposes is lost, the better economic classes move out, and the former one- or two-family houses are remodeled into makeshift tenements, and additional structures are frequently built in the rear. One- and twofamily houses are characteristic of mid-west and western cities. The small houses of the cottage type centering around the steel mills and other large industrial establishments--houses which are often little more than mere hovels, lacking in sanitary provisions and occupied largely by foreign or Negro families--frequently constitute a serious problem. This is especially so where large numbers of unmarried men work in the industries and seek lodging in the neighborhood.
The row houses--attached single and two-family houses, two or two and one-half stories high, and extending sometimes the entire length of a city block, are characteristic of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and a few other eastern cities. This type is probably the most economical one- or two-family city house, for it represents the maximum of house on a minimum of land. A public alley is located generally midway between parallel streets, thus giving access to the rear of the houses and to the garages. The row house is subject to the same influences as detached one- and two-family houses when the character of the neighborhood undergoes a change.
Rooming and lodging houses
The housing problem is complicated by the presence of rooming and lodging houses. These houses provide accommodations for homeless or unattached working people in all economic walks of life. Having no family life or ties within the city environment, this group is extremely mobile. The line of demarcation between these two types of accommodation is not clear-cut and distinct. In general, lodging houses may be described as those which receive persons for a single night or for less than a week at a time whereas rooming houses afford accommodations by the week or the month. Lodging houses deal, with a very transient group. They are really small, cheap hotels. On the other hand rooming house population consists of persons usually possessing fairly steady employment and a certain degree of stability.
The lodging house problem
Lodging houses or cheap hotels cater to a varied group of persons, usually men, and ranging in the socioeconomic scale from beggars, tramps, hoboes, and casual laborers to young men who have come to the city in quest of work or adventure, and poorly paid manual and mental workers who have no home of their own. Lodging houses fall into three main categories: (1) those maintained by philanthrophy, (2) those maintained by municipal aithority, and (3) those operated for profit purposes. The first two types as a rule constitute no problem, other than that of overcrowding. Examples of philanthropic lodging houses are the wayfarers' lodges maintained by organized charities. These are generally non-religious in nature. In addition there are many philanthropic lodging houses maintained by missions which in addition to giving free or very cheap accommodations require their visitors to attend religious meetings held every night.
Municipal lodging houses are, as the name suggests, provided for destitute transients. They are maintained on a standard considerably above that of the commercial lodging house. Baths, fumigation of clothes, and medical examination of all patrons is usually compulsory. Time limits are generally placed upon their sojourn so as to prevent the accumulation of a permanent population. The demand for accommodations in municipal lodging houses varies inversely with the degree of general prosperity.
It is the low grade commercial lodging house which creates a very serious problem from the standpoint of health and hygiene. The lowest type is commonly called the "flophouse." These are generally found on a second or third story of a loft or commercial building where rents are low. In some of the lowest grade lodging houses guests sleep on the floor. In others, however, wooden bunks or cots are provided, arranged in long rows on a dormitory plan and providing no privacy. Lodging houses of these lower types generally charge from ten to twenty-five cents per night. Patrons are made up of vagrants, tramps, and other down-and-outers, many of whom are of a criminal and vicious type.
The commercial lodging house most frequently found is the "cell" or "cubicle" house. This name is applied as descriptive of the enclosed spaces, too small to deserve the appellation room. The patrons call these miniature rooms "cages." The cages or cubicles are usually from 6 to 8 feet wide and from 8 to 12 feet in length. The walls between the cubicles are either of sheet steel or matched lumber, about 8 feet in height. A wire netting over the top admits air and protects the occupant from intruders. Furnishings consist merely of a bed and a chair, and a stand in the more expensive places. Lodging houses of this type usually bear the more imposing title hotels. Rates range from 25 to 40 cents in the cheaper places to 75 cents in the higher priced ones. The patrons of the former are dirtier and shabbier in appearance; many are crippled or aged. A decided improvement in appearance is observed in the patrons of the higher priced places. Many of them are low paid laborers and clerks.
The general run of the lodging houses presents a serious housing problem with reference to overcrowding and congestion. Ventilation is generally poor, owing to location and type of building, and sanitary conditions are seldom halfway satisfactory. Conditions are propitious for the spread of disease.
Rooming houses
As in the case of lodging houses, there are many variations in the nature and quality of rooming houses. They range all the way from rooms in the cheapest slum tenement to rooms in residential clubs and in high grade residential districts. Where roomers are taken in by tenement house families innumerable evils appear, such as congestion, danger from the spread of communicable diseases, immorality, and loss of family privacy. The worst conditions have usually been found in tenement homes of the foreign born, especially those from eastern and western Europe.
The usual type of rooming house covers that class of dwellings in which the great middle class of clerks, salesmen, skilled mechanics, and other industrial workers--largely unmarried and coming from outside the city--are housed. These houses are to be found in those districts undergoing a transition from residential to commercial uses and range all the way from the once luxurious homes of the élite to the ordinary dwellings of the middle class. The rooming house is to be distinguished from the apartment and the tenement house. The latter are family houses and their rooms are rented in suites and are fitted for housekeeping, whereas the rooming house is cut up into separate rooms and rented to single men or women, or to childless couples of limited means.
The presence of the rooming house adds to the complexity of the housing problem. It is in large part a direct result of the increasing mobility of the population, a product of the cityward trend from the rural districts and immigration from abroad. The economic pressure on the landlady or proprietor often not only encourages overcrowding, but is also responsible for bad moral conditions. She is often the prey of unscrupulous real estate agents who sell her lodging house furniture and good will at exorbitant rates, and tie her up with unfavorable leases. If dependent for her livelihood upon the keeping of roomers she finds it imperative that she keep her house full to meet expenses, and rather than lose patrons she may be forced to become indifferent to questionable practices.


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