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Hartman, Edward T. The housing situation in Massachusetts. Boston : Massachusetts Civic League, 1913.
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MASSACHUSETTS CIVIC LEAGU
THE HOUSING SITUATION IN MASSACHUSETTS
The Town Housing Law
The housing committee of the Massachusetts Civic League in 1911
drafted, and the legislature of 1912 passed, a tenement house law for
towns. The act, Chapter 635 of 1912, applies to all houses occupied or
designed to be occupied by three families or more. It is the first com
law ever offered to Massachusetts towns, and is a long step
forward in housing legislation. It will counteract the evil tendencies
in the development of three-deckers but its primary function is to pro
proper lighting, ventilation and sanitary conditions.
Since the signing of the law on May 23, 1912, it has been adopted
by thirteen important towns.
The attitude of citizens in these towns is an interesting commentary
on what the law may be expected to do and it indicates a point of view
which ought to be more widely held. For instance, one section of the
law provides that certain features shall not go into effect until one year
after the adoption of the law by a town, unless otherwise ordered by the
board of health. In the town of Winthrop the board took action at
once, in an official bulletin designating nine sections which should go
into effect in six months. A citizen of Winthrop says: "I fail to find
after diligent inquiry any dissatisfaction with the law as it stands except
that the building inspector deplores the fact that he must wait until
October first before he can put in force some features of the law."
A citizen of Walpole says: "This act was adopted at our regular
town meeting with no dissenting vote. This action was due largely to
the object lesson our neighbor town, Norwood, furnishes in the way of
cheap, unsafe and unsanitary construction. To date only expressions
of approval are heard from our citizens."
Other comments show that the only regret is that the law is not
more far-reaching and that it was not in operation at an earlier period.
Another view by a citizen of North Andover is that "where there
is plenty of building space there would seem to be no occasion to crowd
houses together without provision for air, light and yard room."
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