Overcrowding

With the exception of Cleveland, Rochester, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Denver the uniform requirement of cities regarding overcrowding is that no room shall contain less than 400 cu. ft. of air space for every person over 12 years of age and 200 cu. ft for every person under 12 years of age occupying the same. Cleveland requires 500 cu. ft. for adults and 300 cu. ft. for children under twelve. Rochester requires 500 cu. ft. of air space and one-tenth as much floor area, and New Orleans requires 600 cu. ft. Los Angeles requires 500 cu. ft. and such provision for ventilation that it may be changed once every 20 minutes. Denver requires that the number of occupants must not exceed 1 for every 700 cu. ft. of air space and this must be provided with means for frequent renewal. Boston provides that the Board of Health may make reasonable regulations governing overcrowding.

Cleveland has a regulation that every apartment must have at least 600 cu. ft. of air, outside of closets and bathrooms, for every individual occupying it.

Washington, to enforce the regulations regarding overcrowding, adopts a system similar to that of Glasgow, Scotland. The Health Officer is authorized, if in his judgment necessary, to cause to be affixed to the door of each room a placard stating the number of oc cupants allowed, under the regulations, and to serve a notice on the owner to that effect. The owner is then held responsible.

Columbus has just recently (Nov. 18, 1908) adopted this same plan.

Four hundred cubic feet of air space for each adult and two hundred for each child, is also the general regulation of cities of Great Britain and the continent. Glasgow, Scotland, has in addition a requirement that every apartment of one room must contain 1000 cu. ft. of air space, one of 2 rooms, 1600 cu. ft., and one of 3 rooms 2400 cu. ft. and that not more than 16 apartments shall be contained in any tenement with an in side common stairway, nor more than 24 where there is an outside staircase, nor more than 4 separate apartments on any floor.

Cleanliness of Buildings

"Every tenement house and every part thereof shall be kept clean and free from any accumulation of dirt, filth or garbage or other matter in or on the same, or in the yards, courts, passages, areas, or alleys connected with or belonging to the same. The owner of every tenement house or part thereof shall thoroughly cleanse all the rooms, passages, stairs, floors, windows, doors, walls, ceilings, privies, water-closets, cesspools, drains, halls, cellars, roofs and all other parts of the said tenement house or part of the house of which he in the owner, to the satisfaction of the tenement house department, and shall keep the said parts of the tenement house in a cleanly condition at all times."

The above is the New York provision and practically every city has the same or a similar one.

Most cities also contain a provision that the walls of all yard-courts, inner-courts and shafts unless built of a light color brick or stone, must be thoroughly whitewashed by the owner or painted a light color and re

newed when required by the department charged with the enforcement of the tenement house law.

Vacation of Buildings

In the case of dangerous buildings, the power to vacate them is always given to the building inspector or the department under which he works, and in most cases also the power to tear them down. In the case of insanitary buildings it is usually given to the Board of Health or the sanitary inspectors. As regards tenement houses erected or maintained in violation of the tenement house regulations, the power is given to the department charged with the enforcement of the regulations. In the New York law it is given to the Tenement House Department (Buffalo, the Board of Health) and in New Jersey to the State Board of Tenement House Supervision.

APPROVAL OF PLANS.

New York. Before the construction or alteration of a tenement house is commenced the owner or agent must submit to the tenement house department a detailed statement in writing, verified by an affidavit, of the specifications for the construction and for the light and ventilation of the building upon a blank form furnished by the department. The statement must give the name and residence of the owner and allege that the plans and specifications are true. Any false swearing in a material point is deemed perjury. The plans must be filed with the department and be deemed pubiic records. The department must examine them and

if they conform to the provisions of the tenement house law and the ordinances of the city, must approve them and issue a certificate to that effect. This certificate expires one year from date if the construction or alteration is not begun, and may be revoked at any time if construction is not in accordance with the plans. The department may sanction, however, changes or alterations in plans from time to time provided the same are in conformity with the law.

In Buffalo the Health Department performs the duties of the Tenement House department.

New Jersey. The New Jersey law is the same as the New York law except that the State Board of Tenement House Supervision is substituted for the local Tenement House Department in New York City, and the Board of Health in Buffalo. At the request of the applicant if the Tenement House Board disapproves the plan, it must give him the reasons for such refusal in writing.

Pennsylvania. Plans and specifications must be filed with the chief of the bureau of building inspection. No permit can be granted unless the plans and specifications conform with the provisions of the law. If any owner or builder deems himself aggrieved by any decision of the chief of the bureau of building inspection he may appeal to a board of appeal consisting of the entire corps of building inspectors. If still wishing to appeal from the board's decision he may, on payment of $30, have the Commissioner of Public Safety appoint a board of three disinterested experts to decide the same.

Connecticut has the same regulations as New York

and New Jersey, the plans and specifications being submitted to the building inspector, or other local officer authorized to issue building permits.

Chicago. No new tenement or changes or alterations in an existing tenement can be begun until a permit has been issued by the building department. Such permit can be issued only upon application by the person for whom the building is to be erected or altered, and after the plans have been also approved by the health department. (Sec. 442)

Boston. The Building Commissioner may require plans and specifications of any proposed structure to be filed with him. The commissioner or one of his inspectors must inspect as often as practicable every building in the course of construction, and record all violations. Appeals from the decisions of the Commissioner may be made to a board of appeals consisting of five members appointed by the mayor.

St. Louis, Baltimore, Cleveland, San Francisco, Rochester, St. Paul, and Denver all require plans to be examined and approved before work can be commenced, St. Louis and Rochester by the Commissioner of public buildings. Cleveland, Baltimore and Denver by the building inspector, and San Francisco and St. Paul by the Board of Public Works.

In Providence the building inspector and the plumbing inspector may require plans to be submitted, and in Toledo all plans for work aggregating $1000 or over must be submitted to the building inspector.