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Computer Graphics	Phases of the Housing Problem Overcrowding One of the most serious evils resulting from the congestion of population in the city and the consequent heavy demand for housing is overcrowding. Overcrowding may have reference to an excess number of occupants per room, or to the dense covering of the land area with dwelling and, in particular, to building upon an unduly large proportion of the lot. The former maybe designated for convenience as room overcrowding, the latter as overhousing. Overhousing To a large extent overhousing is a direct result of rapidly rising realty values in urban districts. The natural tendency of the owner or builder is to utilize the land in such a manner as to realize the maximum yield on the investment. Thus it has long been the common practice in American cities to move the original single or two-family dwelling to the rear of the lot and to erect a tenement or flat building in front as land values increased. In other instances where tenements already occupy the front of relatively deep lots, additions to the existing structure or other dwellings in the rear have been built when not restrained by law. The tall tenements of New York City, especially the "old law" tenements 1 represent the extreme of overhousing. In many cities where there has been much speculation in land values and where the every narrow lot has become the standard, land overcrowding is inevitable, even though covered by workingmen's cottages. Such is the situation in many fast growing towns and cities in the United States and Canada. Land congestion or overhousing means, of course, a high population density per acre. Thus a density ration of 500 to 1,000 per acre is common in many of the larger cities; in New York it often exceeds 3,000 per acre. Mere density of population does not constitute the crux of the problem, but rather, must be related to the types of housing afforded. Thus in a high grade apartment hotel area a density of 1,000 or more per acre could scarcely be regarded as detrimental to the health and welfare of the tenants, whereas a density of 400 to 500 per acre in a region of small cottages in a western city, triple-decker houses in New England towns, or "old law" tenements in New York may be used to illustrate overcrowding of the land in its worst forms. It is the height of the building, its relation to adjoining property and to the abutting streets, the disposition of the spaces left vacant for light and air, and especially the actual distribution of its inhabitants and the way in which they live which determine the seriousness of overburdening the land. The evil effects of overhousing need little description. Proximity to industrial areas, inadequate and costly transportation to and from suburban districts together with the resulting high cost of centrally located land lead to the utilization of insanitary cellars and basements, and encourage the construction of taller and taller tenements, thus providing the means for an ever-increasing density of population. It is questionable if any American city with a dense population has adequate parks or open spaces within walking distance, nor is there any likelihood that such cities will ever attempt to provide necessary facilities of this nature to meet the needs of their congested areas. The cost would be prohibitive. Room overcrowding Of even greater moment in the housing problem is the matter of dwelling house congestion or room overcrowding. This evil is not alone characteristic of New York City but is widespread in most industrial towns and cities. Many are the reasons contributing to room overcrowding. Those already mentioned with reference to land overcrowding may again be cited as playing a reciprocal röle in this instance insofar as they affect rentals. Rent is determined by three major factors--(1) the number of houses available to meet the demand in the community, (2) the cost of buildings including land, and (3) economic and social considerations. New building depends upon the expected or possible income which is determined by the demand for housing. If a sufficient income can be assured, based on existing land and building costs, new construction will be undertaken. But among the poorer economic classes such rentals as are necessitated for modern dwellings conforming to present day building codes are impossible. Thus the necessity of seeking the cheaper rentals in the older, poorly constructed, insanitary tenements is quite evident, and with the competition for such quarters rentals are maintained at a high level. Economic and social conditions influencing rent include the variety and location of factories, proximity to transportation and amusements, racial segregation and the physical needs and social aspirations of the family. On the other hand, the family income as affected by seasonal or cyclical fluctuations, unemployment due to industrial accidents, sickness, and industrial depressions, has much to do with the ability or inability to pay for decent or comfortable living quarters. It might be expected that the larger the family the greater the degree of overcrowding. Actual investigation, however, shows that this is only a minor cause of room overcrowding. The most important factor is the practice of taking outsiders into the home either as roomers or boarders. High rents force the very poor to seek some means of supplementing their scanty income, and the fact that young men--emigrants from the home country and strangers to America and its customs--are glad to obtain lodging in the homes of their countrymen offers a welcome addition to the family income. On the other hand, instances are only too abundant where, either through the desire to get a financial start in life or to amass a small competence which will enable the family to return to the old country and live in a state of affluence, many foreign families willingly undergo all the inconveniences and discomforts of crowding lodgers into their homes that they may realize their goal so much sooner. Sometimes the desire for additional income has been so strong that immigrant families, occupying apartments often overcrowded with family members, have accommodated two shifts of roomers, night workers occupying the beds by day and day workers by night. Thus morals, health, and happiness are often placed in jeopardy. Owing to racial isolation and the rapid influx of Negroes to our northern industrial centers extreme overcrowding has become alarming in the colored districts of many cities. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that landlords customarily exact a higher rental from colored tenants than from whites. Thus it becomes imperative to take in lodgers in order to meet the rent. The extent of room overcrowding can be ascertained by the number of persons per dwelling, the number per apartment, the number per room or per sleeping room. Inasmuch as the United States census merely defines a dwelling as a place in which one or more persons regularly sleep, the term may include a tenement, a hotel, a rooming or lodging house, a room in a store or factory building, and each is counted as a separate dwelling regardless of how many persons or families it may house. Thus to measure overcrowding by the number of persons per dwelling could scarcely be regarded as an accurate index. However, it does shed light on the way in which people are crowding into multiple-family dwellings. The seriousness of overcrowding cannot well be gauged by the number of occupants per apartment because of the wide variation in the number of rooms, the size of the rooms, and the fact that not all rooms are used for sleeping purposes. The number of persons per room or per sleeping room is undoubtedly a more accurate index of overcrowding, but it does not allow for differences in the size of rooms. Thus an average of three persons per room in a small tenement apartment represents much greater crowding than the same average per room in the ordinary two-family house. This method does, however, have the advantage of being simple and easily applied. A more technical mode of determining overcrowding is to compute the cubical content of air space per occupant, although this often proves impracticable because of insurmountable obstacles in securing the necessary data. Moreover some rooms may afford the occupants considerably more air space than others yet, being devoid of light and proper ventilation, are to all intents and purposes more overcrowded with the same number of occupants than much smaller rooms. Attitude of landlords The housing problem is further intensified by the attitude of certain types of property owners. Some rent to people of other nationalities or races and actually convince themselves that their tenants prefer to live like animals. There are absentee or indifferent landlords who are solely concerned with the rate of income derived from their tenements. The minimum upkeep expenses are allowed, and no consideration is given to the living conditions of the tenants. In many instances property is held for early increment in value, for speculative purposes, and the owner regards every cent expended for repairs or improvements as a total loss. True enough, the rents are cheap and the owner may regard himself as a philanthropist in not seeking higher rentals, but he is one of the most potent factors in perpetuating bad housing conditions. This is especially the case with respect to the old house which has undergone a metamorphosis from the uses for which it was originally built as a result of the encroachment of business or a change in the desirability of the neighborhood. The transition from the one-family to the multiple-family dwelling did not, however, adequately provide for toilet and sink facilities, light, air, and privacy. Similarly entire buildings once used for factory and warehouse purposes have been converted into cheap tenements and lodging houses, the aim being to construct as many rooms as possible without regard to light, ventilation, or toilet facilities. Under such circumstances houses fall into a deplorable state of affairs, and where the law either sanctions low standards of housing, or the administration of the law is lax, conditions go from bad to worse. The ignorance, indifference, and shiftlessness of a certain class of tenants must not be overlooked as a contributing factor to bad housing. The attitude of the tenant may to some extent be condoned when the question is raised as to how the morale or even a spirit of decency can be maintained in an environment of the sort. Sooner or later the folkways and mores of the neighborhood become those of the families forced to live there.