Page Eight

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Z E,~ INV1L M U L~ Sunday, Moy 25, 1958
Changing Student Housing Scene
An Intensive Inspection Program Has Improved
City Housing -But Much Remains To Be Accomplished


By DAVID TARR
T WAS early in the morning of
a late October day in 1954 that
the Ann Arbor fire department
was called to extinguish a fire in
an apartment house near South
Quadrangle.
Two women died in the blaze, a
University graduate student and
her landlady. And it was, further,
the third fire catastrophe in the
city in less than eight months and
the one that was the impetus for
an active housing inspection pro-
gram.
Today, almost four years later,
the condition of Ann Arbor and
University - controlled housing is
much improved. But there is still
considerable room for improve-
ment.
The supply of housing, an im-
portant element in itself, is closely
tied to the physical condition of
Ann Arbor and University dwell-
ings. Some observers claim that
improved city housing and even
the entire future of the University
rests on the supply of housing in
the Ann Arbor area.
THE CITY began an intensive
inspection program in the fall
of 1954, hring a full-time inspec-
tor the following January.
The responsibility of the city
under state law is to inspect all
multiple dwellings (any dwelling
accommodating four or more
people). If a dwelling complies
David Tarr is the newly ap-
pointed features-magazine edi-
for of the Daily.
I -I
a

with state and local building laws,
the owner is issued a certificate ofx
compliance by the city.
Of ,the 1800 buildings classified
as multiple dwellings in the city,
John E. Ryan, director of the Ann
Arbor Department of Building and
Safety Engineering, says 900 have
been inspected and some 300 is-)
sued certificates of compliance.
Ryan said 150 more are nearly ,
ready for certification with only
inspection for correction of minor
violations remaining. Work to cor-
rect more serious violations is be-
ing done on another 450.
AT AN inspection rate of 300
buildings per year, which Ryan
says is an a'erage, It will take
three more years for the city to
have inspected all multiple dwell-
ing housing. It is expected to take
considerably longer before a size-
able percentage of the housing
can be issued certificates of com-
pliance. -.'
These figures do not include the
2,000 apartment units built since y
1954, all of which are in buildings * a
that were issued certificates before
being occupied. TWO DIED HERE-The death of two women, one a University
There is, however, an inherent student, in a fire in this house in 1954 started a concentrated drive
weakness in certificates of occu- to improve the condition of Ann Arbor housing.
pancy. Prof. William W. Joy, Uni-
versity director of environmental causes of sub-standard housing in 2) Abentee landlordism. Prof.
health, says a real problem in us -yn)astntealndoorima Pril.-
rental housing is that the housing Ann Arbor: Joy says that all rooms In a build-
law requires only minimal stan- 1) An effort by landlords to ing are rented but none of the
occupants have any responsibility
dards. change rooms into apartments in for taking care of the place and,
order to keep up with the growing as a result, "everybody's business
HE USES as an example the lack popularity of the latter over the becomes nobody's business."
of a requirement for hot water former. He said many of the alter- While the figures Ryan's office
in an apartment. ations have been made in buildings compile are revealing for all city
Prof. Joy lists two major prob- "that simply were not suited to housing, they do not tell the story
lems that he believes are major that purpose." of student off-campus housing
(private housing not under Uni-
versity supervision).
ACCURATE, current figures on
the status of such student hous-
ing are not available. The last time
University administrators broke
down off-campus housing figures
was a year ago using information
from 1955 registration cards, sup-
plemented by women's registration
cards in 1956. Using statistical
methods, administrators have re-
cently made rough corrections in
the original figures.
These figures show 7,862 stu-
dents living in rooming houses and
apartments in the city, 4,510 of
which were in multiple dwellings
C.-a rC VL/e and 3,352 in non-multiple dwell-
ings.
Some 3,410 students were living
in apartments and 4,452 in room-
ing houses and at home. Of the
2,686 rooming houses and apart-
ment buildings used by students,
526 were multiple and 2,160 non-
multiple.
O ONLY a fraction of the num-
Mr. Mort triumphs when East meets West ber of buildings used by stu-
dents are subject to required in-
in this mandarin side-buttoned linen chemise spection by the city (multiple
dwellings).
A lack of balance can also be
. with masterful tailoring to underscore seen between the number of stu-
dents living in housing subject
the deceptively simple shape .. and a and not subject to inspection.
With the assistance of the city,
flash of color to trace the lovely silhouette, the University also compiled fig-
ures on the status of inspection
Junior sizes, and compliance to regulations of
off-campus student housing.
Of the 526 multiple dwellings
25.95 housing students, 358 have been
inspected. Of the 2160 non-mul-
tiple dwellings, 302 have been in-
spected. The relatively low number
here is because the city inspects
this type of dwelling only on re-
quest from the owner or complaint
from the occupant.
1 AT THE time of the compiliation
of the information there were
major violations in 204 of the 358
multiple dwellings inspected by the
MAIN AT ME-RTY ANN ABoR city. Ninty of this 358 had been
issued certificates of compliance
Ythe Finest Quality at Prices that are Fair and another 42 were ready for cer-
tification.
In the 302 inspectednon-multi-
pe dwellings, 175 were known to

have major violations while 70 had
been issued certificates with 33
more ready for certification.
University officials limit their
work in environmental health
primarily to University supervised
housing.
This includes dormitories, af-
filiated houses, co-ops and League
Houses. However, in recent months
the University has initiated a
plan to assist students living in
off-campus housing.
AFFILATED housing has pre-
sented the most serious prob-
lem in environmental health in
recent years. Ryan said fraternities
used to be badly overcrowded and
in very poor condition but added
that today the situation is vastly
improved.
Prof. Joy agrees, adding that
the fraternities have cooperated
"wonderfully" in correcting viola-
tions of housing regulations.
A few fraternities have their
improvement. work completed,
Prof. Joy said, and all have plans
for correcting the major viola-
tions by next fall.
While Ryan's office is legally
responsible for the condition of all
housing in the city, authority to
inspect University supervised
housing, such as fraternities, so-
rorities and League Houses and
order corrections made has been
delegated to Prof. Joy's office.
The city respects the inspection
reports of the University and does
not conduct routine inspections on
its own in this type of housing.
Prof. Joy said his office works
closely with the city, however.
A CONCENTRATm inspection
program in University super-
vised housing has been carried on
for the past one and one-half
years.
Prof. Joy said his office is com-
pleting a cycle of inspection of
fraternities and is beginning one
in sororities. He tries to make one
good inspection and two follow-ups
per year in each housing unit.
Improvements in most other
types of housing have been good,
Prof. Joy said. However, he added
that "considerable work needs to
be done in League Houses."
These have been inspected, he
said, and most have made some
improvements. But limited re-
sources, primarily, have prevented
changes in this area from being
quite as rapid as in some other
areas, Prof. Joy explained.
LAST JANUARY, the University
began a program that may
eventually move it deeply into
influencing the condition of pri-
vate housing. Officials offered stu-
dents and Ann Arbor landlords
rental contracts.
A completely voluntary program,
it will provide any landlord, who
has been certified by the city as
complying with the state housing
laws and city ordinances, contracts
which can then be offered to
tenants. The program initially is
concerned with rooms and not
apartments and with multiple-
dwellings which the city has legal
responsibility to inspect.
The rental agreements will
"specify periods of occupancy,
conditions of quarters and other
matters" a University official said
in announcing the program.
The response to the program has
pleased administrators. Of the 95
landlords, to which the plan was
offered, 74 have accepted. These
74 landlords house 522 students.
Assistant Dean of Men Karl
Streiff said the program "is def-
initely not a control program. We
do not wish to bring student off-
campus housing under closer Uni-
versity control but only help to
make the relationship between
landlord and student a more satis-
factory one."
Although the program presently
covers only a small area of off-
campus housing, there is a possi-
See STUDENT, Page Eleven