Community

Housing

Since its origin in 1870s, Manhattan’s Chinatown has always consisted of many tenement buildings. These apartment buildings had poor living conditions and were always overcrowded with laborers. Chinese immigrants would live in tenements due to their cheap rent and convenient location in the Chinese community.

Throughout Chinatown’s history, immigrants with little money looked for housing in rent-regulated Single Room Occupancy (SRO) buildings. The most infamous example of a SRO building was 81 Bowery. Before it was shutdown in 2013, rent ranged from $9 to $200 a month for an average of cubicle size of 64 square feet. The immigrants living at 81 Bowery worked in the restaurant and construction industries in Chinatown. The SRO building served as an affordable place with a tight-knight community because they were able to connect with other residents on a cultural level with no language barriers.¹

For the past decade, gentrification has threatened the ethnic enclave of Chinatown. Gentrification is the process of landlords renovating deteriorating buildings to attract more affluent tenants. This has caused the rent in the neighborhood to rise making it harder for new immigrants to afford to live in Chinatown. The elderly that currently live in Chinatown are protected from gentrification because they live in rent-controlled apartments. Rent-controlled apartments are offered to those who have lived continuously since July 1st, 1971 in an apartment constructed before 1947. However, as these rent-controlled apartments become vacant, they turn into rent-stabilized apartments or are removed from regulation entirely.²

Education

Schools in Chinatown are highly rated in academics with most students achieving proficiency in reading and math. However, the schools lack diversity as a majority of the students are the children of Chinese immigrants who live in Chinatown. The schools have low student-teacher ratios with the highest being 18 students to 1 teacher (P.S. 130)³ and the lowest being 8 students to 1 teacher (Transfiguration).⁴

Social Services

Chinatown has a variety of services offered at community centers and health clinics. The New York Chinese Community Center on 62 Mott Street houses the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA). Founded in 1883, the CCBA helps Chinese American immigrants integrate into American life through helping them apply for citizenship, finding jobs, providing them with low cost English lessons, and offering recreational activities for the community. The CCBA also advocates for small businesses and helps support them financially.⁵

Health clinics such as the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Asian Americans since 1971. In addition to having a pediatricians to dentists to mental health professionals that serve the community, they also host workshops about health education. Patients that do not have health insurance have the chance to reduce the cost of their care through the health center’s sliding fee scale. This ensures that all patients can afford necessary care.⁶

Transportation

The two modes of transportation that residents rely on are the subway and bus services. On the western side of Chinatown, residents can take the J, N, Q, R, W, Z, and 6 lines, while the eastern side of Chinatown has the B, D, and F lines. Cheap bus companies such as Lucky Star Bus and Fung Wah Bus offer cheap travel to cities such as Philadelphia and Boston. For example, the price to travel from New York to Boston on a Lucky Star bus is only $25 per person.⁷ There are also van services that take residents to other neighborhoods such as Flushing, Queens for as low as $2.50, which is cheaper than a subway ride.⁸