Honolulu Record, August 26, 1948, vol. 1 no. 4, p. 5
Allan Beekman
Long ago, John Howard Payne, pining for his native .land, remarked in a poem that was to become known throughout the English speaking world, "be it ever so humble there is no place like home."
In the course of four years work with the Honolulu City and County Rent Control Office I found that this famous line held some previously unsuspected connotations.
My job was to investigate rental units and, in most cases, to appraise their value, on the basis of comparison, and to recommend a rental ceiling for them.
Under the ordinance the investigator had no power to set a rent ceiling, but the administrator, who had that power, and who rightly considered the investigators experts on comparable rental values, generally accepted their recommendations.
What's A House?
Since the ordinance affected all rental units on the island of Oahu I went everywhere on the island and in the city of Honolulu. I went into every conceivable type of dwelling I went into hovels and I went into mansions. I went into brothels and went into convents. Sometimes I found that the landlord was embarrassed for a definition of such a unit. I recall one unit that the landlord designated as 'garage used as house.' The word 'garage', and the word 'house' were obvious misnomers when applied to this unit. The unit was not a garage, for it would not have provided adequate shelter for an automobile. Not even being adequate shelter for an automobile it was obviously not a house. I also recall being baffled by the situation involved in a 300-square-foot basement apartment in upper Nuuanu Valley which I was called upon to investigate. This apartment was a model of primitive simplicity for it had neither kitchen, bath, toilet nor water.
Forced By Circumstance
I was led to conclude that the prospective tenant of this unconventional dwelling, a woman, must be some unspoiled daughter of nature who, having grown up far from the demoralizing and debilitating influence of an effete civilization, preferred not to expose herself to the enervating and deleterious effects of an abode equipped with such a confusing and superfluous a contrivance as a toilet, or a bath; or which was supplied with such an unnatural commodity as piped water.
The sterling qualities of character which the intrepid tenant displayed in thus uncomplainingly renouncing these frivolities commanded my admiration. But in another sense, and in a very poignant manner, it appealed to my sympathy and commiseration. For it appeared that the landlord, by requesting rent for this dwelling was attempting to penalize the tenant for the possession and exercise of personal qualities that one might reasonably suppose should entitle the tenant to the landlord's warmest commendation and regard.
He Had the Nerve . . .
Indeed, from such a point of view, it appeared that the landlord's request for rent was not only unreasonable but bordered on effrontery.
This extraordinary social experiment, in its original form, never reached fruition. For the Rent Control Office, appealing to the landlord's finer sensibilities, suggested that the tenant be permitted to use the plumbing facilities in the landlord's residence. When this suggestion was acceded to, it was possible to fix a rent ceiling.