In the Literature Review, I became interested in architecture as my focus of research and I began to question why there is there a stark difference between the housing quality in some New York neighborhoods. I began doing some research on some communities and looking at how the profession of architecture plays a role in the housing quality disparity seen throughout NYC. 

 

Inequality Between Bronx and Manhattan Housing

 

Abstract

This paper dives into the disparity of housing quality in comparing one sample neighborhood in the Bronx and one sample neighborhood in Manhattan. Through studying both neighborhoods, connections can be made between demographics, socioeconomic circumstances, and housing quality. In addition to analyzing the people who make up the respective communities, the role of architecture in preserving the contemporary socioeconomic order and architecture’s ability to widen the gaps of other disparities will be assessed.

 

Introduction

New York’s diverse neighborhoods are what give richness to the iconic New York culture. However, because New York City is so diverse, there are minority communities that are disproportionately affected by certain disparities compared to predominately white communities. Perhaps the best way to visualize this inequality is through studying the housing quality disparity since it is concrete and tangible. According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Bronx and Manhattan are two very urban boroughs that see the greatest contrast in housing quality with 69% of Bronx housing experiencing maintenance defects and 57% of Manhattan housing experiencing maintenance defects. Why is there a disparity in architectural design for residential living between Manhattan and other neighborhoods in the Bronx and how does it affect residents? The poor quality of residential architecture in a neighborhood is mainly due to ethnicity, socioeconomic info, race, etc…. Another reason why there is a housing disparity between the two areas is due to architecture’s role in preserving the socioeconomic hierarchy.

Comparison of Demographic Information

In order to determine why there is an inequality of housing conditions between Manhattan and the Bronx, it is imperative to consider the demographics of two sample neighborhoods to understand the composition of the respective communities that are affected by this disparity. The sample neighborhood for the Bronx is Community District 5 of the Bronx, which is Fordham and University Heights and the sample neighborhood for Manhattan that will be used for this study is Community District 5 of Manhattan, which is Midtown (Including Flatiron, Herald Square, Midtown, Midtown South, Times Square, and Union Square). To begin, the residents that make up a majority of the population in Fordham are Latino people, making up 68% of the population and 42% of the population are immigrants. The race least represented in the area are white people only making up about 1%. Also, only 19% of the population achieved a college degree and 42 % of the population live under the Federal Poverty Level making the neighborhood the fifth poorest neighborhood in New York City (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2015). On the other hand, the Midtown neighborhood in Manhattan contains a majority of white people in the community making up 68% of the population, while the least represented race would be African Americans who make up 4% of the population. In addition, Midtown residents have 76% of the population attaining a college degree and only 13% of the population live under the Federal Poverty Level (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2015). Already in comparing the demographic information of the two neighborhoods, there seems to be a stark contrast in the socioeconomic conditions of the people living in these communities. These differences in socioeconomic conditions are most likely because of socioeconomic disparities due to ethnic/racial circumstances. This is because 99% of the population in Fordham and University Heights are comprised of minority groups, while in Midtown Manhattan the majority of the population is white people. The socioeconomic conditions also dictate the quality of housing and residential living between the different neighborhoods.

 

Connections Between Socioeconomic Conditions and Housing Quality

The demographics presented previously, are reflective in the housing quality of each respective neighborhood and there seems to be a clear correlation between the quality of residential buildings and the socioeconomic disparities due to the ethnic/racial majority in the neighborhood. According to the Community Health Profile for Fordham and University Heights, approximately 80% of the residential buildings in the area experience maintenance defects like water leaks, cracks and holes, inadequate heating, presence of mice or rats, toilet breakdowns and peeling paint (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2015). Whereas 51% of Midtown buildings experience maintenance defects, which is less than the average for New York City (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2015). As you can see, minority communities that have a low socioeconomic standing have substantially worse housing conditions compared to predominately white communities with high socioeconomic standing.

In addition to statistics clearly representing this relationship of minority-majority areas experiencing housing quality issues, some other sources dive deeper into how socioeconomic disparities can lead to the housing disparities in New York City. Due to a considerable amount of people in Fordham living in poverty, their only option is to live in the subpar living conditions of affordable housing in that area and New York’s infamous high cost of living makes it barely affordable as 64% of the population experience rent burden (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2015). In The Art of Inequality: Architecture, Housing, and Real Estate: A Provisional Report, demonstrates how affordable housing is not really affordable for the people who occupy them:

In 2015, the average national housing wage for a two-bedroom unit was $19.35 while the national minimum wage was $7.25… a household earning minimum wage would need to work more than two and a half full-time jobs to afford an average two-bedroom rental. In the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan areas…it takes more than three (Moore, 2015, p 22).

In addition, according to Elmelech Yuval in his article “Housing Inequality in New York: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Homeownership and Shelter-Cost Burden”, there is a connection between immigrant households that experience shelter-cost burden and relatively low socioeconomic standing due to the fewer financial resources to spend on education or healthcare. Thus, the cost of rent/shelter limits the ability to climb the socioeconomic ladder for a significant amount of Fordham residents, which only increases the gap between housing quality disparities and other disparities experienced between Bronx and Manhattan residents.

 

How Architecture Responds and Contributes to this Issue

Architecture contributes to increasing the gaps in the socioeconomic hierarchy and it perpetuates the concept of inequality and disparities among neighborhoods in the Bronx and Manhattan. One of architecture’s contributing factors to maintaining the social and economic order is having almost an illusionary quality. Rather than using architecture to take on the complex problem of socioeconomic disparities, constructing a new building can bring the illusion of the community thriving, it merely distracts people from the real issue at hand (Moore, 2015, p 61). Instead of using the money to create the illusion of a community’s prosperity, that money can be used towards creating new and improve housing facilities or even somehow comprising a plan to assist people with their rent burden more effectively in the communities that need it.

Architecture can even inform or cause health disparities between residents in the Bronx and Manhattan. In a study that assessed the relationship between child asthma and housing quality, it was found that low-income families that resided in public housing had the highest cases of children living with asthma. In addition, the study stated that the surrounding environmental factors like pollen, stressors, and air pollution can play a factor in child asthma as well as indoor factors such as pests, inadequate ventilation, mold, etc… (Northridge et al., 2010). Even though this study randomly selected its candidates, the variables and circumstances are extremely similar to the housing quality of Fordham and University Heights (housing quality of Fordham and University Heights mentioned in the previous section). In fact, the child asthma hospitalization rate is 55 per 10,000 children ages 5-14, and the adult asthma hospitalization rate is 571 per 100,000 adults. Fordham’s child asthma hospitalization rate is about 4 times higher than Midtown’s child asthma hospitalization rate and Fordham’s adult asthma hospitalization rate is about 9 times greater than Midtown’s adult asthma hospitalization rate. Therefore, there is a clear correlation with housing quality having the power to widen the gap in health disparity by creating an environment that induces higher health risks.

 

Conclusion

In the comparison of the two sample neighborhoods, Fordham and University Heights in the Bronx, and Midtown in Manhattan, the respective demographics and socioeconomic standings are directly related to the disparity in housing quality. Low-income minority communities have extremely low-quality residential buildings compared to mid to high-income white majority communities. Even though affordable housing in the Bronx is objectively less expensive than housing in Manhattan, the expense is relative to the financial position of those who occupy the space. Since a considerable amount of Fordham residents live below the Federal Poverty Level, they experience a higher rent burden, which only enforces the cycle of poverty, leaving them to live in the subpar conditions of housing in the area. Architecture perpetuates the socioeconomic order by sometimes being used to create an illusion of a community’s prosperity and the building itself can widen the gap in other disparities. If architecture has the power to preserve the socioeconomic order, it may have the power to break it. With the profession becoming more aware of how architecture affects communities, there is a developing interest in creating sustainable social housing projects. Hopefully, future architects can creatively find ways to use architecture in mitigating the complex problem of the socioeconomic hierarchy.

 

Work Cited

Elmelech, Y. (2004). Housing Inequality in New York City: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Homeownership and Shelter‐Cost Burden. Housing, Theory And Society, 21(4), 163-175. https://web-b-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=56e42f3d-99fb-41b6-b6f1-99c4494be6f6%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=16188108&db=a9h

 

Martin, R., Moore, J., & Schindler, S. (2015). The Art of Inequality: Architecture, Housing, and Real Estate: A Provisional Report. Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, Columbia. University. https://househousing.buellcenter.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/artofinequality_150917_web.pdf

 

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (2015). Community Health Profiles 2015, Bronx Community District 5: Fordham and University Heights. https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2015chp-bx5.pdf

 

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (2015). Community Health Profiles 2015, Manhattan Community District 5: Midtown. https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2015chp-mn5.pdf

 

Northridge, J., Ramirez, O. F., Stingone, J. A., & Claudio, L. (2010). The Role of Housing Type and Housing Quality in Urban Children with Asthma. Journal of Urban Health, 87(2), 211–224.  https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=13&sid=7b0f229b-9a22-4148-9c5d-998e708b5e32%40sdc-v-sessmgr03