CHAPTER V. HOUSING AND LIVING CONDITIONS. Rent in its relation to standard of living-Boarders and lodgers-Size of apartments occupied Size of households studied-Congestion-[Text Tables 68 to 95 and General Tables 20 to 31]. RENT IN ITS RELATION TO STANDARD OF LIVING. Although the rent payments of the households studied are important in their bearing upon the cost of living, they are chiefly significant in their relation to the standards of living of the families and households of the iron and steel workers. In this connection, the following table shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the average rent payment each month per apartment, per room, and per person: TABLE 68.-Average rent per month, by general nativity and race of head of household. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) From a study made of 1,947 households paying rent, it was learned that the average rent paid per apartment per month by the households of the iron and steel workers was $7.51, the average rent per room $2.06, and the average rent paid per person per month was $1.19. Households whose heads are native-born of foreign father paid the highest monthly rent per apartment, followed by households whose heads are whites native-born of native father, who paid $9.68. Households whose heads are foreign-born pay $2.11 per month less than those whose heads are native-born of foreign father, and households of native-born negroes less than those whose heads are native-born of foreign father. (The households whose heads are foreign-born pay the highest, and those the heads of which are native-born of foreign father the lowest monthly rent per room. The rent paid per apartment and per room per month has no particular significance in its bearing upon living conditions. The rent paid per person, however, denotes to a great extent the standard of living in the households of different races. It will be observed in many instances where the rent per apartment and per room is comparatively high, the rent per person is low, caused by overcrowding rooms in order to reduce the cost of rent for each individual. Native whites born of native father pay the highest monthly rent per person, followed closely by those native-born of foreign father. Negroes and foreign-born persons pay less per person per month than those nativeborn of native father. This fact indicates that a greater degree of congestion exists in foreign households than in those whose heads are native-born of native father or native-born of foreign father. While the table shows that negroes pay a low rent each month per capita, it will be observed that they pay a much lower rent per apartment than the foreign-born and a lower rent per room, indicating less crowded conditions in negro households than in those of foreign races. Of the households the heads of which are native-born of foreign father, the English pay the highest rent per apartment, followed by Germans and Irish. Irish pay the highest rent per room, the English and Germans being next in order. The Germans pay the highest rent each month per capita, followed in the order named by Irish and English. This indicates that there is slightly less congestion in households of Germans of the second generation than in those of Irish and English, though all three races show less crowding of rooms than any of the foreign races, as each pays a higher rent per apartment than most of the foreign races, a lower average rent per room, and a much higher rent per person. Of the foreign races, Roumanians pay much the highest rent for apartments each month, followed by Servians, Croatians, North Italians, Slovenians, Germans, Irish, English, and Magyars, all of whom pay over $8 each month for the rent of their apartments. Ruthenians, Slovaks, Scotch, Poles, Greeks, Bulgarians, South Italians, Macedonians, and French, in the order mentioned, pay between $5 and $8 for apartments each month. The Greeks pay the highest rent per room each month, followed by the Roumanians, Bulgarians, Macedonians, North Italians, Slovaks, Magyars, Ruthenians, Croatians, and South Italians, all of whom pay over $2 and less than $3 per room per month. The Servians, Poles, Germans and French, Scotch, Irish, English, and Slovenians, in the order named, pay between $1.45 and $2 per month per room. It is particularly noticeable that the households of each race of the foreign-born pay a much lower monthly rental per person than the households the heads of which are whites, native-born of native father or English, Germans, and Irish who were born in the United States of foreign father, indicating that the households the heads of which are of foreign birth are much more crowded than those of nativeborn persons. The English is the only foreign race paying over $1.50 rent each month per person. The Irish, French, North Italians, Slovaks, Slovenians, Magyars, Germans, South Italians, Poles, Croatians, Scotch, Servians, and Greeks in the order named follow the English and pay between $1 and $1.50 per month per person. Ruthenians and Bulgarians, Roumanians, and Macedonians in the rank mentioned pay less than $1 rent per person per month. Although Roumanians pay the highest rent per apartment among the races reporting, yet they pay an extremely low rent per person, showing that apartments occupied by these people are very much overcrowded. The older immigrant races from Great Britain and northern Europe exhibit by their higher average rent per person less crowded apartments and a higher standard of living than the more recently arrived immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. The following table shows the average rent per month per apartment, according to locality and by general nativity and race of head of household: TABLE 69.-Average rent per month per apartment, by locality and by general nativity and race of head of household. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 10 or more households reporting in each of two or more localities. The totals, however, are for all races.] a Community A and Community B are included in the Pittsburg district. In the preceding table it is seen that a higher average rent per apartment per month is paid in each of the three subdivisions of the East than in the Middle West or the South. The Pittsburg district of the East shows much the highest followed by Communities C and D of the East, the Middie West, and the South, in the order mentioned. The very high rent per apartment in the Pittsburg district, as compared with other localities, is what might be expected owing to the relatively large population in and around Pittsburg. The very low rent payment, both for the native and foreign born, in the South is also worthy of notice, being due in large measure to the practice of living in small cottages or company houses in detached communities. In the East the rent payments per apartment per month for both foreign and native born are considerably lower in Community D than in Community C. The comparatively low rent paid by the Croatian, Irish, Magyar, and Polish households in Community D is also worthy of note, the average rent per month per apartment paid by the Poles being even lower than the rent paid by the same race in the Birmingham district in the South. In other respects the several races follow the general tendencies indicated by the average for the total foreign-born. The table next presented shows, by locality and by general nativity and race of head of household, average rent per month per room: TABLE 70.-Average rent per month per room, by locality and by general nativity and race of head of household. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 10 or more households reporting in each of two or more localities. totals, however, are for all races.] The a Community A and Community B are included in the Pittsburg district. The highest average rent payments per month per room in the case of the total native-born is shown for the Pittsburg district in the East, followed by Community D in the East, the Birmingham district in the South, and Community C of the East. in the order mentioned. Among the foreign-born the highest average rent per month per room is paid in Community E in the Middle West; and for the native-born of native father, white, the highest rent payment is exhibited in the Pittsburg district in the East. The higher rent per month per room shown by the total foreign-born, as well as the Magyar and Bulgarian races, in Community E in the Middle West, is the result of the practice of living in rooming houses, while in other localities the living quarters consist of tenements, with the exception of the South, where usually the small cottage is found. The real significance of rent in its bearing upon the standard of living, both in the case of Community E of the Middle West and in other localities, does not become apparent, however, until the next table is examined, showing the average rent payment per month per person, the tendency among the foreign-born employees in the iron and steel industry being to increase, so far as possible, the number of persons per room in order to reduce the outlay in rent for each person. The table next submitted shows, by locality and by general nativity and race of head of household, average rent per month per person: TABLE 71.—Average rent per month per person, by locality and by general nativity and race of head of household. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 10 or more households reporting in each of two or more localities. The totals, however, are for all races.] a Community A and Community B are included in the Pittsburg district. Among both the native-born and foreign-born in the table above, the highest standard of living is indicated in the East, the average rent per month per person in the Pittsburg district being higher than in any other locality. Among the total native-born in the localities of the East, Community Cranks next to the Pittsburg district in the average amount of rent per month per person, followed by Community D; the Birmingham district in the South ranks lowest. |