In the year 1909 the town drew up a building programme, according to which, 95,000,000 crowns, will in the next five years, be spent on municipal building. The first part of this programme included the building of provisory dwellings, booths and free homes for single men, at an outlay of from two to three million crowns; the building of small dwellings at 10 million, and of schools and children's homes at 10 million crowns. In accordance with this resolution, 15 school buildings were erected, whereby about 400 buildings in private houses became free; then in different parts of the town 17 large tenement houses and 14 colonies of one-storey-houses were built, in which every dwelling consisted of a room, a kitchen, bedroom and accessory rooms.

These buildings have created, up to the present, over 4000 dwellings, the rent of which may not exceed what they have actually cost the municipality. Besides this, a public building was erected, in which amongst other arrangements for the well-being of the people, dormitories were provided for 66 men and women -- principally unemployed. Further, a large People's hotel was erected constituting the most recent acquisition to the social welfare; this deserves a visit as one of the sights of the Capital.

This huge building is situated at the corner of Angyalfoldi-ut, and contains besides the necessary offices and housekeeping-rooms, a large dining-room for 360 persons, two entertaining-rooms, a library with reading-room, a writing-room, dressing-rooms, bathrooms, 396 sleeping cubicles and 44 separate bedrooms. The cost of this building, which is the work of the architects Ludwig Schoditsch and Bela Eberling, amounted to 1,000,000 crowns; the inhabitants pay 60 Hellers (6 d.) a night, and for a week 3 crowns 60 Hellers (3/0). The price of a dinner (3 courses) is 60 Hellers; the inhabitants are also allowed to cook their food in their own rooms. Only such persons are accepted as inhabitants whose yearly income does not exceed 2000 crowns.

The erection of this People's Hotel is a real benefit to the less prosperous of the population, and it is to be hoped that this good example will soon be followed. The municipal building policy which began with such great success will be continued during the following years, and will certainly exercise a great influence on the improvement of the dwelling-conditions of Budapest. Further authoritative measures aim at the extermination of cellar-dwellings, though the number of these is not great; and at the organisation of control of dwellings; also, through extensive land purchase, to exercise a favourable influence on the price of building-land and thereby limit the possibility of land monopoly.

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Adapted from Illustrated Description of Hungary and its Capital