and one of these has to spend much time in quarantine and 

 fumigation work for contagious diseases. The result is that 

 there is time for little more than the looking up of complaints. 

 When a complaint comes in, the inspector usually attempts to 

 inspect the whole block where the complaint occurs. Assistance 

 has been rendered by two voluntary inspectors, a good example 

 of public service. No perm.anent card record system for the 

 houses inspected by the sanitary inspector is kept. It is thus 

 impossible to look up the condition of any particular house or 

 block from the records of the health department. Carbon copies 

 of orders issued where repairs have been made are, of course, 

 kept. 



Tenement, Lodging House and Hotel Inspection 



A state law, establishing certain standards for tenements, 

 lodging houses and hotels went into effect last August. Accu- 

 rate card records of each place inspected under this law are kept. 

 Reinspections must be made constantly to keep them up to the 

 standard. This work of inspection is vital if San Diego is to have 

 healthful conditions and prevent over crowding. The present in- 

 spector deserves the support of every public spirited citizen, even 

 though it may hurt his pocket-book. Before condemning the 

 work of such a division of the Health Department, any intelli- 

 gent citizen should take the trouble not only to read the law 

 which the inspector must enforce, but also consult the inspector 

 and his records and understand the reasons for the orders given. 



Housing 



From records in the above division of the Health Department, 

 from personal talks with the inspector and from the records of 

 other social agencies as well as individuals, the following brief 

 report on housing in San Diego is made. San Diego has a srnall 

 percentage in the number of persons to a single dwelling, an im- 

 portant factor bearing directly on the health of the city. More- 

 over, the city has a large number of small homes, owned by the 

 occupants. It has been repeatedly stated that San Diego has 

 no housing problems; that there are no slum districts and no 

 tenements. Nevertheless, if one considers the rapid growth of 

 the city, and looks about even superficially in the poorer sections, 

 these statements will be found to be incorrect. San Diego has 

 not a bad housing problem at present as compared with large 

 cities, but measures must be taken now to prevent over crowding 

 and unsanitary homes. 



The most accurate records to be had on housing are the re- 

 ports of inspections made in tenements, lodging houses and 

 hotels. This work has been going on only since October first. 

 About 500 places have been inspected, and about 85 per cent, 

 have had to be repaired to conform to the law. Among these 

 places, about 500 dark rooms, i. e., without outside windows, have 

 already been found. Of these, 200 had to be closed for living 

 purposes. This in itself is a startling record in an out-of-door 



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