Demand for housing units skyrocketed due to the rapid growth of the industrial sector in the United States during the 1880s. Housing shortages in northeastern cities grew out of the influx of thousands of people and immigrants. Landlords have continued to subdivide their apartments into ever smaller units, resulting in ever more cramped living conditions for the poor as landlords seek to make quick money. Slum conditions in New York persist despite legislation aimed at eliminating them or improving their quality of life, as evidenced by the Awakening. As a result of poor urban planning, slums are more likely to suffer from poor health outcomes than other areas. Airborne and waterborne diseases are among the most common causes of illness. Urban poverty is a rampant issue in most of the big cities, New York slums among them; the Awakening seeks to expose all the vices that exist in such places and better their chances of being improved.
Chloroform has been traced back to an urban harvest field in New York City’s poorest neighborhoods. Overcrowding and substandard housing are common causes of subpar hygienic conditions. Substandard housing has several negative consequences, and the topic, The Awakening, explores these issues and the solutions that have been found. In the slums of New York City, cholera and smallpox outbreaks paralyzed residents, prompting the city’s health department to declare a public health emergency. The slum’s health is in jeopardy due to the spread of infectious diseases and airborne complications (Riis 2011). The Tenement Act was passed in the wake of a cholera outbreak in the neighborhood, prompting the creation of a Board of Health. The smallpox epidemic that broke out shortly after the law took its toll on its effectiveness.
As soon as the board is ready to act, it must do everything to improve sanitation and hygiene in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Officials were forced to demolish walls in the slums to install windows that would allow fresh air to circulate in the dark hallways because ventilation was such a significant issue. Because of officials’ actions, residents filed a lawsuit to stop them from enacting the regulations. There was an increase in hostility between officials and residents after this incident. Several tenements had to be evacuated because they were unsafe to live in; health officials and police took five years to complete the mission.
The slums were full of darkness in every sense: physical darkness, moral darkness, and actual darkness. They speak for themselves because of their crudeness and lack of conformity to the accepted norms of society. The New York slum, despite the efforts of public health and police officers, has always reverted to its previous state (Riis 2011). New tenements are constantly being built, but no good planning is done in advance. Overcrowding has never been an issue in the slum, even for the new landlord, who is used to finding dark rooms with damp cellars.
Corruption plays a significant role in the slum’s huts and the slum’s evil house traditions. Attempts by health officials to compel builders to construct decent and hygienic facilities are still in progress. Many impoverished people have kept slum conditions the same over time, another essential factor (Riis 2011). Even though new construction has been subjected to stringent health and safety regulations in the last few years, older homes continue to be plagued by substandard sanitation conditions. These slums will continue to exist as long as enough poor people go around.
Tenement housing is now defined as a type of housing in which three or more households share common areas like stairwells, hallways, and other utilities. Legally, the term “tenement” covers many structures, including flats and apartments. Two-story brick tenements with commercial space on the first floor are also known as tenements, and they are often used for illegal liquor sales. Because of the tight quarters and lack of natural light, the rooms in this building are dark and stuffy. It is reported that the worst-case overcrowding scenario has 101 people living in one room (Riis 2011). Even though tenements are still around, their most notable effects are the destruction of the environment and the proliferation of health hazards that make it unsafe to live in.
The sleazy tenements initially from the slums of the fourth ward have kept expanding to the entire island for more than 50 years. The slums’ filth and misfits have polluted the Annexed District and the Winchester Line. Three-quarters of New York City’s population lives in overcrowded, squalid dwellings and scrambling for food and other necessities. These people eat low-quality and scarce food, often coming from their backyards.
The rapid growth of the city’s population and the difficulty of demolishing shanty house structures and constructing new ones in a reasonable amount of time for everyone will almost certainly result in increased housing and accommodation needs in the future. As a result, the people living in the slum will continually live in the debilitating conditions. The authorities tasked with streamlining the tenements per the health laws will also be there; the laid down measure to curb the spread of the ever-increasing problem seems not to be effective. Thus, it is the start of the Awakening for the slums.
Work Cited
Riis, Jacob A. How the other half lives. Macmillan, 2011.