6 | Original Housing Plan Recommendations Submitted to Finance Committee, July, 1906
San Francisco, Cal., July 10, 1906.
James D. Phelan, Esq.,
Chairman Finance Committee.
Sir:—
The Finance Committee at its last meeting referred to the Rehabilitation Committee for consideration and report a proposition made in the Finance Committee by Mr. M. H. de Young that a donation be made to any workingman owning a lot in the burnt district of one-third of the value of the dwelling to be erected on it, this donation however, not to exceed in any case the sum of five hundred dollars, and to be paid, not to the lot owner, but to the contractor who builds the house when it is completed and clear of liens.
The Executive Commission has had under consideration various plans for acquiring tracts of land and building homes for sale or rental, one such plan having been referred to the Commission by the Finance Committee at its last meeting. The Executive Commission has also appointed, with the knowledge and approval of the Finance Committee, a consulting board of architects and builders who have placed their services at our disposal without compensation, both for expert counsel on general plans and for the making of suitable designs for dwellings which might be built by the Commission, or by individual lot owners.
Under these circumstances, both the Executive Commission and the Rehabilitation Committee have given careful consideration to this subject, and have held informal joint sessions in order that any recommendations made by this Committee might have the endorsement of both bodies, and might, if possible, be such as to secure the immediate favorable consideration of the Finance Committee. It is agreed on all sides that no time is to be lost if houses are to be made available before the winter season, and before the tents which are now in use are so dilapidated as to be uninhabitable.
The Rehabilitation Committee recommends the acceptance of the principle that workingmen and others of moderate means whose homes were destroyed by fire, who own lots in the burnt district, and who cannot obtain from banks, building and loan associations or other societies enough to rebuild without assistance, should be aided in rebuilding by a donation or loan from the relief fund. This policy involves no new action by the Finance Committee except the appropriation from time to time of such sums as may be required by the Rehabilitation Committee to carry it into effect. It is exactly in line with the work which that Committee was created to undertake. This Committee is therefore already endeavoring to ascertain how many applications are likely to be made for such donations or loans, and devising such safeguards as will protect the operation of the plan from the obvious abuses to which it might be subjected. If there are any conditions of such grants which the Finance Committee, or its members, would consider it desirable to call to our attention, it is suggested that this be done at the earliest possible moment; and if the Finance Committee disapproves the plan, that of course, should be indicated before any further steps are taken. As soon as the information is available, an estimate will be presented to the Finance Committee as to the amount of money which is required to carry this policy into effect. We consider it doubtful whether this plan, of itself, will go very far towards providing shelter for the families now in tents, but the time which has elapsed since the plan was proposed has not been sufficient to enable us to secure accurate information on this subject.
The Executive Commission on July 9th held a conference with the consulting Board of Architects and Builders, at which the Chairman of the Finance Committee, the Mayor, and some of the members of the Rehabilitation Committee were present, and the whole subject was exhaustively considered. The conclusion reached was that no one plan had been suggested which would completely solve the problem of housing the homeless families, but that immediate action is desirable in the following directions:
I. The first necessity is the shelter of those who are entirely dependent. We recommend for this purpose the erection on city property of an attractive permanent building or buildings on the cottage pavilion plan for the care of aged and infirm persons, chronic invalids and other adult dependent persons for whom it is not so much a question of rehabilitation as of permanent maintenance. We recommend that such building or buildings to be erected from the relief fund be large enough to accommodate one thousand men and women, and that the maintenance of the institution after it is erected be left to the municipality. Alternative plans would be to care for these aged and infirm persons in existing private institutions, on a per capita weekly basis similar to that on which patients are now cared for in private hospitals, or to make an allowance in the nature of a pension for their care, in private families. We believe that the erection of a special pavilion would be more economical and that it has the indirect advantage of enabling the city to secure an attractive modern public home for aged and infirm persons. The plan suggested, supplemented by the policy now in force of caring for the indigent sick in hospitals and the ordinary operation of the established charitable agencies of the city, will, it is believed, adequately and humanely shelter those who are actually destitute, and who, from lack of any earning capacity, must remain entirely dependent upon public relief.
II. The next and more serious problem is the supply of dwellings for families who ordinarily pay a moderate rental, who do not own land and have no considerable savings, but who are in receipt of ordinary wages. There are probably five thousand families now in tents or other temporary shelter who are in this position. Possibly, if those who are temporarily out of the city and who desire to return are included, this number may be ten thousand. No accurate estimate is possible for the reason that there is no information available as to what number have already permanently removed to suburban towns, what number has been absorbed in existing homes by the doubling up process, and what number will build for themselves. What is certain, however, is that no real beginning has yet been made by private enterprise or otherwise in the erection of dwellings for the five thousand families of which we do have knowledge, although nearly half of the long summer season, which, fortunately, lay between the disaster of April and the winter season, has already elapsed. It was, therefore, the unanimous conclusion of the conference, and it is the official recommendation of the Relief Commission that in addition to all that is done for individuals through the Rehabilitation Committee some considerable contribution to the supply of homes should be made directly from the Relief and Red Cross Funds, either by financial assistance to private individuals or corporations in building on a large scale, suitable dwellings, on satisfactory terms; or by the creation for this particular purpose of an incorporated body, which can make contracts and enforce legal obligations. It is, therefore, recommended: that unless the alternative suggested can be made immediately effective, eleven or more persons, including the Mayor, the Chairman of the Finance Committee and suitable representation of the National Red Cross, the Executive Commission and the Rehabilitation Committee, be designated by the Finance Committee to form a corporation under the laws of this State relating to corporations not for profit, that not less than one million dollars be subscribed by the Finance Committee as capital or as a permanent loan to this corporation; that the homes thus provided be sold on a monthly installment plan to families who were living in San Francisco on April 17th, and rented to those who are unable to purchase; that all income from rentals and sales after meeting necessary expenses be invested in the building of other houses, or for such other public philanthropic objects as may be decided upon by the corporation with the consent of the Finance Committee. After one year it might be found practicable and desirable for the corporation thus formed to sell its remaining property and interests to Savings Banks or otherwise, and to dispose of the entire sum thus obtained for the relief of those who were still at that time in any way in distress through the disaster, or if there were no such distress, then for some public purpose which might be decided upon.
The essential thing at this time is that, at the earliest possible moment some of the funds which are now lying idle in the treasury of the Finance Committee, shall be put at work providing homes for the working people of the community. The plan which we have recommended is proposed, first, as a relief measure because the tents will not provide proper shelter after October; second, as a measure of public policy, because, in the interests of the community it is not desirable that San Francisco shall lose her present population of working people merely because there are not dwellings to be rented or bought; third, also as a measure of public policy, because it is desirable that workingmen shall have the opportunity to own their homes, and this opportunity is now afforded, not on a charitable, but on a reasonable and just business basis; and, finally, because the intelligent and efficient carrying out of the plan proposed will enable the community to set a standard of attractive, sanitary, safe, and yet comparatively inexpensive dwellings which will have a beneficial effect not only in the immediate future, but for the coming generation. The co-operation of the municipal administration in enforcing suitable conditions as to sanitation, light, ventilation, fire protection, etc., of the architects in making plans for convenient and attractive homes at moderate cost, of the building trades in getting these homes built, and of the Finance Committee in advancing capital and creating a corporation which will ensure the purchasers against fraud or injustice, will solve the housing problem and nothing less than this co-operation will solve it.
In closing this report, however, the Rehabilitation Committee and the Relief Commission alike wish to emphasize the fact that there is no intention that the relief fund shall become a providence of the refugees, solving all their difficulties and relieving them of all individual responsibility. On the contrary, it is confidently expected that each family will to the greatest possible extent solve its own problems, find its own capital, decide on the plans for its own home, discharge its obligations for any money advanced as soon as practicable, and that if these recommendations are adopted the entire business will be so conducted by the Rehabilitation Committee, the Executive Commission and the corporation formed for the purpose of acquiring land and building homes, as to preserve in full integrity the fundamental traits of American character, individual initiative and personal responsibility.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Executive Commission and the Rehabilitation Committee.
Edward T. Devine,
Chairman.