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Housing
Contents
Apartment Houses > Before
the Tenement Housing Options in the 1860s > Tenements
> Public Housing > Housing Abandonment
> Gentrification >
Homelessness > Immigrant
Housing today > Housekeeping
in the Tenements > Rent, Wages and
the Cost of Living
Immigrant Housing Today
The foreign-born are more likely than native-born
US residents to live in a central city in a metropolitan area (45%
of foreign-born vs. 27.5% of native-born). They are also more likely
to live in larger households than the native-born. Over 26% of the
foreign-born population in the country lives in a household with
5 or more people compared to 13% of the native-born. A 1990s housing
vacancy survey found that immigrants lived in apartments that otherwise
might be abandoned, and boosted occupancy rates in privately constructed
and privately owned-the most vulnerable of housing stock. Fewer
immigrants than native-born own homes, but immigrants who do buy
homes often buy in declining neighborhoods. This helps to stabilize
the neighborhoods and real estate markets.
In the mid 1990s, foreign-born households lived in the following
arrangements in NYC-43% occupied rent-stabilized apartments, 23%
lived in unregulated rental units, 20% owned their homes, 2% occupied
public housing (compared to 6% of all households in the city). Of
those living in public housing on the Lower East Side in 1998, 44%
were of minority status (32% Hispanic, 8% black, and 4% Asian or
Pacific Islanders). In 1999, 24% of the residents on the Lower East
Side received some form of income support (AFDC, Home Relief, SSI,
or Medicaid).
In 1998, the cost of a one-bedroom rental in a refurbished tenement
on the LES averaged $1400. The median price of a one-bedroom condo
was $110,000 (up from $95,000 in 1993). The median price of a co-op
was $50,000.
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