Laundry and residence
Camp Cottages Used for Business
Residence Rentals and Size of Residences.
Of the 894 families there were 125 that are known to have paid rental for separate residence quarters, both before and after the fire. The rents paid and the number of rooms occupied at both periods by 94 of these are known, so that the housing conditions of these families may be discussed apart from their business affairs.
TABLE 52.—RESIDENCE RENTALS PAID, BEFORE AND AFTER THE FIRE, BY 94 FAMILIES RECEIVING BUSINESS REHABILITATION, WHO PAID RENTALS FOR SEPARATE RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS IN BOTH PERIODS
| Monthly rentals | FAMILIES PAYING RENTALS SPECIFIED | |
|---|---|---|
| Before fire | After fire | |
| Less than $10 | 13 | 14 |
| $10 and less than $20 | 38 | 30 |
| $20 and less than $30 | 26 | 23 |
| $30 and less than $40 | 13 | 12 |
| $40 and over | 4 | 15 |
| Total | 94 | 94 |
The highest rent paid before the fire was $45; after the fire, $65. It will be noted that both before and after the fire, these families were able to pay rents that would seem to have assured fairly comfortable housing accommodations. Before the fire 45.7 per cent of the families paid a rental of $20 a month or more; after, 53.2 per cent were paying $20 or more.
It was found impracticable to establish the relation between rent paid and income received, for the reason that scarcely a person interviewed was able, however willing he might be, to say what his income for a year past had been. Income in most instances had been exceedingly irregular, and ordinarily the most that a man could say to the visitor was that his business had or had not met its running expenses; had or had not, in addition, furnished some sort of a living for the family; was or was not paying instalments on the principal of any debt incurred in starting. Therefore, the standard of life represented by the families in this study can be shown only by indirect means.
One of the best of the indirect indications of standards of living consists in the number of rooms occupied for residential purposes. The situation in this respect, before and after the fire, of the 94 families for which information was secured, is shown by [Table 53].
TABLE 53.—NUMBER OF ROOMS IN RESIDENCES OCCUPIED, BEFORE AND AFTER THE FIRE, BY 94 FAMILIES RECEIVING BUSINESS REHABILITATION, WHO PAID RENTALS FOR SEPARATE RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS IN BOTH PERIODS