Quality of Life
At the time Riis was writing “How the Other Half Lives”, what percentage of New York’s population lived in Tenements?
"75% or ¾?"
What pricked the conscience of the community into action soon after the close of the war?
“The dread of advancing cholera”
Poverty invites and compels _______ into tenements.
"Overcrowding"
Where does the boundary line of “The Other Half” lie?
Through the Tenements
What notorious example of tenement buildings had a population that grew to half a million, with extreme overcrowding?
Gotham Court
How does Jacob Riis’ describe the living conditions of NYC’s Tenement Housing in the 19th Century?
"They are the hot beds of the epidemics that carry death to rich and poor alike; the nurseries of pauperism and crime that fill our jails and police courts; that throw off a scum of forty thousand human wrecks to the island asylums and workhouses."
What was the first step toward remedial legislation after the close of the war?
“Tenement-House Act of 1867”
How did rent prices of the lower wards compare to uptown?
“rents were from twenty-five to thirty per cent. higher in the worst slums of the lower wards”
What was the one justification that early builders of tenement houses had for their actions?
They argued that due to the shortage of housing in the city, any available space could be quickly filled with lodgers.
Describe the construction and growth of early Rear Houses.
A rear house was built, generally of wood, two stories high at first. Presently it was carried up another story, and another. Where two families had lived ten moved in.
According to a well-known physician, what was the condition of the air in the tenements?
“if we could see the air breathed by the people in these tenements, it would show itself to be fouler than the mud in the gutters.” This indicates that the air quality within the tenements was extremely poor.
What was the first characteristic of tenements to fall under the ban in 1869?
“The dark bedroom”
What factors drove so many individuals into the lower wards and Tenement housing?
"Lack of sufficient housing (Homelessness), language barriers, unemployment, inability to afford (or access) housing elsewhere, etc."
How did the Sanitarians' efforts to improve living conditions in tenements face a significant challenge?
The problem of poor living conditions was growing faster than their efforts to combat it.
Many of the tenements were built one story after another. What was the issue with these buildings being built up to great heights?
They were built to great heights with no regard to the strength of the foundation walls.
How does the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor describe the living conditions in the city during this period?
"crazy old buildings, crowded rear tenements in filthy yards, dark, damp basements, leaking garrets, shops, outhouses, and stables" that were converted into dwellings.
How did the Bureau of Vital Statistics register the death of a child in a Tenement?
“Plainly due to suffocation in the foul air of an unventilated apartment.”
What 19th century housing phenomenon (particularly among the wealthy) allowed the creation of NYC’s first tenements?
Movement of wealthier populations from urban environments to rural and suburban environments.
How does Riis describe at least 80% of the persons responsible for crimes against people or property in 19th century NYC?
Individuals who have either lost connection with home life, or never had any, or whose homes had ceased to be sufficiently separate, decent, and desirable to afford what are regarded as ordinary wholesome influences of home and family.
How did property disputes affect tenants' living conditions?
Property disputes led to neglect of necessary repairs, as multiple parties tried to collect rents, leaving the tenants in deteriorating living conditions.
What does Riis identify as the first purpose-built tenement of NYC (Typology)?
"The Rear House"
What is a tenement as the law defines it?
“a house occupied by three or more families, living independently and doing their cooking on the premises; or by more than two families on a floor, so living and cooking and having a common right in the halls, stairways,yards, etc.”
What was one factor that made census and provision of medical care so difficult in the Tenements?
“there are annually cut off from the population by disease and death enough human beings to people a city, and enough human labor to sustain it”.
Riis writes “Forty per cent. of the distress among the poor, said a recent official report, is due to drunkenness. But the first legislative committee ever appointed to probe this sore went deeper down and uncovered its roots”. What did the committee recommend?
“the prevention of drunkenness by providing for every man a clean and comfortable home.”
Describe the relationship between tenants and renters within 19th century NYC Tenements.
Tenants often lived hand to mouth, barely capable of affording the rents impressed by the property owners
Renters typically cared little for the safety and security of the tenants, interested only in maximizing the profitability of the property.