| Nationality. | No. of Fam. | Nationality. | % of Total. |
|---|---|---|---|
| American | 5,831 | American | 47.41 |
| Polish | 2,054 | Slavs | 24.64 |
| Hebrew | 1,077 | Hebrew | 8.76 |
| German | 963 | German | 7.83 |
| Negro | 597 | Negro | 4.85 |
| Italian | 443 | Italian | 3.60 |
| Slovak | 360 | British | 1.44 |
| Bohemian | 176 | Misc. | 1.47 |
| Croatian | 165 | 100.00 | |
| Hungarian | 113 | ||
| Irish | 104 | ||
| Syrian | 98 | ||
| Lithuanian | 67 | ||
| Russian | 57 | ||
| English | 50 | ||
| Greek | 37 | ||
| Austrian | 31 | ||
| French | 21 | ||
| Welsh | 12 | ||
| Scotch | 11 | ||
| Swedish | 10 | ||
| Servian | 8 | ||
| Finnish | 4 | ||
| Chinese | 7 | ||
| Norwegian | 1 | ||
| Spanish | 1 | ||
| Turkish | 1 | ||
| Danish | 1 | ||
| Tot'l No. of fam. | 12,300 | —No. of people | 42,699 |
| No. of fam. taking boarders | 1,532 | —Boarders | 3,200 |
| Total population in tenements | 45,899 | ||
The accompanying tables show the various nationalities which recruit tenement dwellers and the share contributed by each. Nearly one-half are American born; one-fourth are Slavs. Next in numerical importance are the Hebrews, then the Germans, Negroes, Italians and British. The remaining scattered groups are included under the heading "Miscellaneous." Pittsburgh's tenements shelter 12,300 families, containing 42,699 people; 1,532 families take in boarders and of these boarders there are 3,200. The total number of people living under tenement conditions (three or more families to the house), is 45,899.
The welfare of over forty thousand people is dependent then on tenement house standards and their enforcement in Pittsburgh. This is perhaps eight per cent of the total population, a small proportion when compared with New York for instance. The primary housing problem of the wage-earning population in Pittsburgh, remains then not a tenement problem in the strict legal sense, but a one- and two-family dwelling problem. This is the aspect of the situation which Pittsburgh must face in its entirety if the city is to profit by the experience of older communities.
"If you think Pittsburgh is bad, you ought to see Glasgow," said one man. "Look at the tenements in New York," said another. Yet, if the city's phenomenal growth continues to be equalled by her phenomenal indifference to the necessity of raising the housing standard for her least paid laborers, the day may come, and soon, when Pittsburgh will make a close third to these cities. Because of hard times, vast numbers of immigrants have left Pittsburgh, and temporarily the rental agencies have plenty of idle houses upon their lists. These houses throw light on the situation. Two, three, four, and five-room apartments are available at an average monthly rental of from two and a half to five dollars a room in many sections of the city. There are also some single houses to be obtained for the same price. Over half of these dwellings are without any modern sanitary accommodations, and many are in a wretched state of repair. The majority of the houses are in the most sordid quarters of the city where living is high, at any price. Certain dwellings are offered especially for foreigners or Negroes, dilapidation, lack of conveniences, and an undesirable locality being distinguishing features of these houses.
COMBINATION REAR TENEMENT AND ALLEY DWELLING, WEBSTER AVENUE. NEGROES AND WHITES LIVE HERE.
We label the foreigner as an undesirable neighbor; we offer him the meanest housing accommodations at our disposal; we lump him with the least desirable classes of our citizens; then we marvel at his low standards of living. Give him better, cheaper, houses where he may have a decent and comfortable home, instead of a mere shelter from the elements, unwholesome, overcrowded and expensive, and then see what his standard of living would be.
The natural conformation of the land with its steep declivities, and its winding, tortuous valleys, has added much to the difficulty of the housing situation. Adequate transportation facilities would open up territory on the South and West sides where countless people could be housed. The trend of the mills away from the city to nearby river sites, attracted by lower tax rates and unlimited space will offer further relief and improvement, especially where great employers of labor, in laying out their plants as at Mariana, and Vandergrift and Gary take heed of the proper housing and sanitation of the towns that will grow up about them. As the situation stands to-day, however, bad housing conditions are multiplying in the surrounding industrial towns; and they must face the same problem. Its seriousness demands the formulation of public policies that shall encourage every form of building operation that will produce sanitary houses at low rentals, whether they are private homes or company houses of creditable standard, or dwellings put up by building and loan companies, commercial builders, or co-operative housing companies, along English lines.
A Chamber of Commerce report states: "The city of Pittsburgh, along with its vast industrial development, has grown so phenomenally in population during the past ten years that it has been clearly impossible for the growth in housing accommodation to keep pace. Careful and comprehensive investigations show conclusively that the housing facilities of the Greater City have completely broken down, not only in point of reasonably proper conditions but in amount of available real estate."
