From left: Amzad, Kazi and Eliyas.Kazi, Amzad, Eliyas and a fourth
roommate are all recent Bangladeshi
immigrants who share a basement
apartment in East New York,
Brooklyn. They pay a combined
$1,600 and live two to a bedroom.
6A fl yer hung from the wall of a
bodega in Brooklyn, advertising a
basement apartment for rent.
Kazi, who moved to New York from
Dhaka six months ago to get his
associate degree, called the number
on it, and when the apartment’s
owner o ered him a rent of only
$400 a month, he quickly moved in.
Kazi now shares the cramped
underground space with three
other men — Amzad, Eliyas and a
fourth roommate, who declined
to participate in this article. All three
are food-delivery workers who came
to New York within the past two
months from Noakhali, Bangladesh.
They work 10-hour shifts each day,
making deliveries via bicycle.
Kazi commutes to Manhattan,
where he is studying health
information technology at ASA
College. His bedroom contains the
apartment’s only window;
the ventilation is poor, and the
apartment is often frigid. But
Kazi feels lucky to have a home
at such an a ordable price:
‘‘It doesn’t matter that it’s tiny and
messy,’’ he says. The roommates
pay $350 to $500 a month apiece.
‘‘Compared to other apartments,
here is cheap,’’ Kazi says. ‘‘New
York is expensive, but we manage.’’
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