Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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104 BREMEN. tap serves many households. Here, too, the privy arrangements are very defective, being found sometimes in the attic (on the pan system) and some times in a boxed-off corner of the corridor. Typical measurements of “ Passage ” house rooms are as follows :—Living-room, 9 feet 6 inches long, 11 feet wide, 9 feet high ; downstairs bedroom, 11 feet 6 inches by 8 feet 2 inches by 9 feet y kitchen, 8 feet 2 inches by 6 feet 6 inches by 9 feet, the last measurements applying likewise to “ middle ” bedrooms. The rents vary according to the size and state of repair, but the majority range from os. to 8&. 9d. per week. One consequence of the Bremen small house is the smallness of the rooms, for the Bremen working class household holds firmly to the tradition that a dwelling should consist of a living room, a kitchen, and bedrooms, and that these rooms should not, save at need, be used promiscuously. Hence it is that three and four-room dwellings predominate. While thus a number of rooms is obtained at the expense of size, most housing reformers are agreed that the bargain is a good one from the standpoint of health and morality. Large rooms, such as are often seen in modern houses of the “barrack” type, are never met with in Bremen. On the contrary, the living and bedrooms of working-class dwellings closely resemble in size, as in arrangement, the same rooms of an English urban cottage, though the Bremen kitchen, as a rule, falls out of the comparison owing to its exceptional smallness. Of 3,983 rooms of all kinds in small dwellings measured several years ago, 2'9 per cent, were found to have an area of 4 square metres (1 square metre equals about 10J square feet) or under ; 8*3 per cent, from 4 to 5 square metres ; 14"3 per cent, from 5 to 6 square metres ; 10*6 per cent, from 6 to 7 square metres ; 8’2 per cent, from 7 to 8 square metres ; 9"7 per cent, from 8 to 9 square metres ; 13"2 per cent, from 9 to 10 square metres ; 16"6 per cent, from 10 to 12 square metres ; 13*0 per cent, from 12 to 15 square metres ; 17 per cent, from 15 to 20 square metres ; and 1"5 per cent, from over 20 square metres. Applying the usual German standard of 353 cubic feet space for each adult, and 17G^ cubic feet for children under 14 years, it was found that 414 per cent, of the 1,954 bedrooms in these dwellings had less than this space per head, 23 6 per cent, allowed from 35"31 to 52.97 cubic feet, 15"5 per cent, allowed from 52*97 to 70*63 cubic feet, and 19*5 per cent, allowed over 70*63 cubic ieet. In other words, two-fifths of all the bedrooms were deficient in cubical capacity, and thus were regarded as overcrowded. Bremen has no formal system of house inspection, but care is taken that the building regulations are observed in the case of all new erections, and where possible of alterations. These regulations provide that in the newer portions of the municipal area only from two-thirds to three-quarters of a site may be covered with buildings, front gardens being first deducted. The height of a building on the street level may in general not exceed 61 feet in the town, and 48 feet 9 inches in the rural area, but in any case the maximum is the width of the street. The minimum height of rooms is 9 feet, except in the cellar story, where a height of 8 feet 1¿ inches is allowed if the rooms are not used as family dwellings and are not facing the courtyard. Predominant Weekly Rents. The following statement of the predominant rents of working-class dwellings is based upon a classification of over 2,000 rents obtained from different portions of areas right and left of the river :— Number of Rooms per Tenement. 2 rooms and kitchen 3 „ Predominant Weekly Rent. 3s. 6c/. to 4s. 7d. 4s. Id. „ 5s. 5d. Taking rents in Berlin as 100, the corresponding figure for Bremen is 52. Four taxes fall on the working classes of Bremen (u) the income tax, common to all German towns, and if occupiers (b) a special street lighting and pavement rate, (c) a water rate, and (d) a sewerage rate, the last three %ates being based on the rent. The income tax falls upon all incomes of £45 and upwards (before 1905 the exemption limit was £30), and consists of a multiple, fixed every year according to requirements, of a “ tax unit,” fixed by State law.

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