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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XVI Numerous efforts have been made in Germany for the improvement of the housing conditions of the working classes, and some account of them will be found in the separate town reports. They fall into three main groups :— (i) Municipal Action.—So far as the actual supply of housing accommo dation is concerned the German municipal authorities, where they have done anything at all, have as a rule, limited their action to the provision of dwellings for some of their officials and workpeople, though at Mülhausen and Elberfeld they have gone further than this. In a number of cases, as at Stuttgart and Mannheim, they have made advances at rates of interest lower than the market rates, to societies formed for the erection of improved working-class dwellings ; and it may be remarked here that advances to such societies are frequently made from the funds of the compulsory schemes for insurance against old age and invalidity. Other forms of municipal action in regard to housing are improvement schemes (as at Hamburg) ; the acquisition of land (the « municipalities of Breslau, Stettin, Aachen, Dortmund, Leipzig and Mannheim, for example, are large landowners) for the systematic planning of town development in the interest of slum prevention and transit facilities, and the subsequent sale of part thereof for building purposes, subject to conditions imposed by the municipality ; the organisation (as, for instance, in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Mannheim, Solingen, Düsseldorf, Essen and Dortmund) of a systematic inspection of dwellings ; the enactment of more or> less stringent building byelaws and housing regulations ; and the enforcement of regulations as to lodgers, particularly where, as in the great Rhineland-Westphalia coal and iron area, the recent rapid industrial development has brought a large influx of unmarried workmen from other parts of Germany. Examples of these various activities are described in the reports on the separate towns. (ii) Housing by Employers.—In a large number of instances employers have thought it necessary or desirable to provide housing accommodation for their workpeople. This has been so particularly in the Rhineland-Westphalia district, where the very rapid growth of the industrial population in recent years has put a great strain upon the supply of housing, but it has also been the case elsewhere. The most conspicuous example of this kind of housing enterprise is furnished by the large workmen’s colonies established by the Krupp firm in Essen, but much has also been done by colliery proprietors in and around Essen, Bochum and Dortmund, and at Königshütte and Zwickau ; by the proprietors of iron and steel works at the same three western towns and in Aachen and Düsseldorf ; and by various firms elsewhere, for instance in the suburbs of Berlin, at Mülhausen, Mannheim, and Stassfurt. At Munich and Nuremberg the Bavarian State Railway Administration has provided housing for some of its employees ; the Baden State Railways have done the same at Mannheim ; employees of the Prussian State Salt Mines are housed at Stassfurt, and, as already mentioned, some of the municipal authorities have taken similar action. (hi) Housing by Building Societies and Semi-Philanthropic Enterprise.—In a large number of the towns efforts towards the improvement of the conditions under which the working classes have to live have taken the form of building societies, formed to erect dwellings to be let to persons belonging to the industrial classes on moderate terms—generally on condition that the tenants must be shareholders in the society or must be acquiring 1 their tenements. Examples of such action are to be found in Berlin, Nuremberg, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Mannheim, Remscheid, Magdeburg, Aachen, Bremen and Mülhausen—to name only a few examples. In other cases dwellings have been erected by semi-philanthropic societies contenting themselves with a limited rate of profit, as at Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, and Stuttgart ; or by purely philanthropic effort, as at Leipzig, Dantzig and Bremen. In many instances capital has been obtained by the various building societies, of both types, on loan from the State Insurance Funds ; the Rhineland Provincial Insurance Board alone had by the end of 1904 lent over £2,200,000 for the erection of working-class dwellings. Local Taxation in Germany.—It has already been stated that the rents quoted in this Report do not include any payments in respect of local taxes and it appears desirable to give in this place some account of municipal taxation in Germany, in so far as it affects the working classes. Inasmuch as

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