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‘Shocking’ 54-Square-Foot Tenement Apartments Housing Chinatown Immigrants in NYC

Mar. 1, 2013 12:38pm Liz Klimas

It might seem hard to believe, but in New York City, there are some living in a 54-square-foot room. They’re not part of the tiny house movement either but find this the best option for themselves for decades as they try to earn a living in the United States.

No individual bathroom. No individual ceilings above rooms. Lights on 24/7. Sound like prison? It’s not — just a tenement house in New York City’s Chinatown.

CNN Goes Into Hidden New York City Chinatown Tenement Housing

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

CNN’s Poppy Harlow took viewers through such an establishment where many immigrants are living more than one to a six-foot by nine-foot room sometimes. This is, Harlow pointed out, the size of many people’s walk-in closets.

“These rooms are like a cage for animals,” CNN’s translator reported one man who had lived there for 20 years saying.”But he keeps staying here because it’s very hard when you don’t have any legal status to get a residency anywhere else.”

The bathroom, which is community dorm room style, is not only for using the facilities or washing oneself but for washing food, dishes, laundry and more.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Rent for such a lifestyle is between $150 to $200 per month.

The conditions in the tenement housing pose a fire hazard, CNN reported Executive Director for Chinatown Partnership Wellington Chen saying.

“For the average American sitting at home in Iowa, do they know that this exists?” Harlow asked.

“I would say a lot of New Yorkers don’t even know,” Chen said.

On Facebook, Harlow described the tenements as “hidden” and “shocking.”

In addition to the cramped conditions, less than ideal bathroom situations and potential for fire, there are other problems associated with the tenement home, including the landlord saying some residents are illegally renting out bunk space in their rooms only meant for one person.

Watch the full report to get a glimpse of this lifestyle:

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Comments (63)

jungle J
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 2:25pm
this is a view of our future…gaze upon it and put your brain int gear. Only the sane get it.

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- fairsunshine
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 3:18pm
  That’s what I was thinking when I watched it. Commie-in-chief will be successful at collapsing this country.
  
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- fairsunshine
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 3:19pm
  That’s what I was thinking when I watched it.
  
  Report this comment
- JRook
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 3:51pm
  @fairsunshine what Rush didn’t feed the angry mob enough today so you have to put forth the term commie and chief. Please provide 5 intelligent reference points to why you believe the PRESIDENT is a commie. Something stronger than what McCarthy used in his witch hunt please.
  
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- G-WHIZ
  Posted on March 2, 2013 at 9:48am
  ALL buildings are CAGES FOR ANIMALS/HUMANS and others!!
  
  Report this comment
mydh12
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 2:17pm
When I was in college, I CHOSE to live in a college dorm for my first two years. I SHARED a room that was approximately 12 x 12, and shared a community bathroom down the hallway. I didn’t even have my own private room. It was not a big sacrifice to do this. So why should the media complain about these people CHOOSING to live in these conditions, when they shouldn’t even be in the USA in the first place.

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- BSdetector
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 2:56pm
  Because we should feel bad for criminals who -through every choice of their own- have a hard time blending into society to leech off our hard work.
  
  Report this comment
- JRook
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 3:54pm
  @BSdetector do you practice being ignorant or does it come naturally. The individuals being referred to in these tenement housing probably work a hard and longer day than you do. And probably provide good economic benefit to the employer who employes them. While I would agree that no one should be in the US illegally. And Illegal aliens is the correct term. Your assumption that most are not hard working and in many cases exploited workers proves your ignorance to anything other than your ideology entitlement.
  
  Report this comment
- loriann12
  Posted on March 2, 2013 at 1:09pm
  The first paragraph says it…..they don’t have the LEGAL STATUS to find something better. I’m not just against illegal mexicans, I’m against illegals from anywhere. Come here the right way. My sister in law is Netherlands National….married my brother in law, but didn’t become a citizen. They live in a 3 bedroom condo in downtown Dallas, that before the housing crash was worth a quarter million dollars. She busts her butt for it.
  
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JMorcan
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 2:14pm
Please pay attention. This is how all Westerners will live when China gets the rest of our money.

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BLAZE-READER1
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 2:01pm
Aren’t all boarding houses similar to this? You get a small room for your bed, and you share the bathroom down the hall. I don’t see an issue here.

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- The Giver
  Posted on March 2, 2013 at 11:37am
  True. Live and let live. Liberty doesn’t always look pretty, but it beats the alternative.
  
  Report this comment
Marsh626
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:55pm
It’s their own fault.

Unlike Whites, when non-Whites immigrate to a new country, they stick together and create racial enclaves. Have you ever heard of “Americatown” in China or Japan where virtually everyone living there is White and you see White culture openly shoved in everyone’s face?

The Chinese immigrants are choosing to concentrate themselves in small areas. Nobody is forcing them to live this way.

And I don’t want to hear the nonsense that they’ll be oppressed by evaaaaal White Men if they move outside of their self-imposed racial enclaves. It seems like half of my neighbors are asian these days. Nobody messes with them at all.

And if they’re here illegally, deport them back to their native country. That’s what they do to White illegal immigrants in China and Japan.

Again, nobody asked them to come here. They came here on their own free will. Don’t expect us to make sure that every single one of them is living well in their racial colonies. It’s not our responsibility.

And besides, it’s other Chinese immigrants who own these places they’re living in. This reporter is acting like this is somehow a reflection on America being cruel when it’s really about immigrants choosing to put themselves in somewhat crappy situations and taking advantage of each other.

If anything, this exposes the stupidity of allowing mass immigration.

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- cosmic dogma
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 10:20pm
  Agree with you on all you say. Thanks.
  
  Report this comment
- The Giver
  Posted on March 2, 2013 at 11:33am
  I agree that we are responsible for our actions, but for you to say that whites or Americans of any color don’t congregate in other countries is silly. There are Ex Pat communities in many countries! The realtors even mention the areas as places for Ex Pats. They are usually much better places than what is seen in the rest of those countries because we Americans go to other countries with means.
  These people have fled their country with little means if any, just the ability to work hard. I think that this is about the landlord wanting to kick these people out to sell it in order to make a hotel. It is his building, but if he couldn’t do it years ago, doubt he can do it now.
  One guy mentioned he would be in jail because he had more than the one child allowed. Guess that this looks like a crowded dorm…. Better than a jail and he can help support his family there. Hasn’t seen his family in 19 years and is here illegally. Guess that if we felt forced to leave this country, we might become illegal aliens too. Hope that never happens and that God forgives us for all the abortions and heals our land.
  It took many years of waiting for my parents to leave the communist hell hole of Cuba. We came here legally and I believe everyone should do so too, but people who don’t qualify to enter the country legally because they lack certain requirements like having a sponsor, take a chance and come anyway to have a chance at a better life. This will only stop when we are a hell hole
  
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- Dreamerr117
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:30pm
  Although I do not condone illegal immigration, I do think that most Americans do not understand where these people have come from. They came to this country illegally because they had no other avenue to leave their home country. Do you think they actually wanted to leave? They did so because they were living a life of oppression and poverty. They did not come here illegally by choice, no one would willingly choose to live a life as an illegal immigrant and live in the conditions of the Chinese tenements. They do it because they do not have any other options. These Chinese immigrants live in a community together because they are scared, alone in a foreign country. Most likely, they do not speak English. Living together in a community gives them a sense of safety. As a child of Chinese immigrants I understand the hardships that these people go through. Although, my parents came here legally because they had the ability to, it was not easy for them to live in a foreign country away from their family and friends. I too lived in NYC, but I was lucky enough to have grown up in my own house. My parents had to work hard to provide a good life for their children. My mother worked long hours in a factory making far less than minimum wage. My parents sacrificed a lot so they can give me the life they always dreamed of having themselves. As hard as my parents worked, I can’t even begin to imagine how harsh the lives are of the people living in the tenements.
  
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Tri-ox
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:37pm
The “American Dream” can only be achieved by immigrants when they immigrate LEGALLY, become fluent in ENGLISH and when they CHOOSE to ASSIMILATE into American society.

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- RinkyDink34
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 2:13pm
  Big 10-4 Good Buddy & But for the Grace of God Go I.
  
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The-Monk
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:33pm
Rooms so small you can’t get a 32oz soda into them…..

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- duncan1622
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 2:19pm
  That’s too funny!
  
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jackact
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:25pm
Another Bloomberg dictate?….

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Tom Dooley
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:18pm
As a fireman in NYC I once saw a basement of a tenement with hundreds of Haitian immigrants in the Bronx,I reported it but was ordered not to by the Fire Dept because NYC is a sanctuary city. You are under official orders not to report illegal immigrants. Of course the illegal mayor third term would deny this.

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dont_drive_slow_in_the_left_lane_obliviot
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:15pm
nobody is making them stay, they are free to leave.

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SocialistSlayer
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:13pm
It’s Ok as long as they don’t bring in 32 OZ Big Gulps !

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Spinolio
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:11pm
This is better than the shopping cart the libs wanted to give the homeless.

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Inform
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:10pm
Sounds like a breeding ground for bed bugs

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- Walkabout
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:27pm
  There was an outbreak in NYC in the last 2 years.
  
  Overcrowded conditions brought to by the Democrats.
  
  Report this comment
Inform
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:08pm
Wait, isn’t this part of Bloomberg’s master plan for the youth of NYC?

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HOOT_OWL
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:05pm
My sympathy and compassion STOPS right at the New York city limits..!

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MDECKER
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:03pm
“For the average American sitting at home in Iowa, do they know that this exists?” Harlow asked. Why in the world would anyone know anything like this is going on, we’ve been too busy trying abide by the strict smoking and soda drinking laws that Mr. “Greenjeans” Bloomberg is dictating. I’m in a frenzy, waiting for the next rule to come down from Mt. Bloomberg! Besides, we have an “infinite” amount of money, we needn’t worry about anything or anybody.

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woodyee
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:02pm
If you don’t like the way you live here, illegal alien, then do american citizens a favor and move the heck back to where you came from!

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- Babysmooth44
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:23pm
  We spend 2.5 Billion a year on tax payer dollars bringing in refugees each year. You wonder why social secuirty, medicare/cade is borke and the demographics of this country are changing.
  
  http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/
  
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dwm1225
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:01pm
Another sob story by the liberal media. Just few problems they failed to focus on:

1. He’s an illegal immigrant.
2. He’s never bothered to learn english
3. He’s an illegal immigrant.

I don’t have any sympathy. He’s allowed himself to be in that position because he chooses to live an illegal life.

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wilbstal
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:01pm
are they legal before we run out and get more welfare

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Gonzo
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 12:57pm
I guess it beats what communism has to offer.

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- Skeeterhawk
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 7:24pm
  We may just find out!
  
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capitalismrocks
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 12:52pm
Looks like the accomodations that Foxconn provides its workers while they build Apple products… what people in the US aren’t going to understand, these types of living conditions are the norm for Chinese, they live like this back in China, so its no wonder in Chinatown, its going to directly mirror home.

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AtkRWC
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 12:49pm
Big Deal. Same way I lived while deployed. Good enough for soldiers, good enough for…Oh never mind!

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- MN NICE
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:31pm
  Really. Looks to me that these people choose to live like that “as their best option”. They came all the way from China (or any other suppressed country) and end up in one of the most expensive cities in the States. Have to wonder who brought them over and if they’re employed (possibly by the same people that provide/own the housing) or if they’re living off our tax dollars?
  
  Report this comment
AmericanStrega
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 12:46pm
“These rooms are like a cage for animals,” CNN’s translator reported one man who had lived there for 20 years saying.”But he keeps staying here because it’s very hard when you don’t have any legal status to get a residency anywhere else.”

So has this man been living there for 20 years as an illegal? Did I miss something? For the love of Mike, if he’s been there for twenty years shouldn’t he have been able to get a job and move on to something better or perhaps move to another area or state if he’s legally in the USA? I’m not trying to sound like an azz here. I’m just wondering 1) if he is here legally, he should have made his way to “higher” living or 2) if he’s here illegally maybe he should have been deported back to his home country and tried entering the US through legal channels.

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- Walkabout
  Posted on March 1, 2013 at 1:20pm
  You missed nothing.
  
  But everyone of our precious trolls missed the obvious problem with porous borders. They keep trying to say it is a race thing & we hate Mexicans, which is complete BS.
  
  This is the result of liberal policies
  
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thegreatcarnac
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 12:46pm
If they are illegal…..kick their azz out. No illegals should be in this country withou permission.

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FeliciaJewel
Posted on March 1, 2013 at 12:45pm
Agenda 21 folks must be proud!

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