Due to the overcrowding of American cities, especially New York, tenement housing was introduced in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.
- At the height of tenement housing, more than 2.3 million citizens, almost 2/3 of New York’s population, were living in cramped, run-down apartments.
- At least 500,000 people were living in extreme poverty.
- Most of the apartments were poorly lit and did not have indoor plumbing, forcing residents to dump trash and waste onto the street.
- Diseases, including cholera, smallpox, tuberculosis, and yellow fever, spread rapidly.