A Bed and a Key at 81 Bowery, a photo essay by Annie Ling

The tenement at 81 Bowery is about the cheapest place to stay in Manhattan. For $100 to $200 a month, you get a bed and a key, but not much else. Some 35 Chinese immigrants live in a fourth-floor loft that has been divided into blocks of cubicles barely wider than a mattress. Here, Chu Ben Jin, who sleeps in cubicle number four, has been a tenant for more than 12 years.

Since most of the cubicles are without ceilings, there is very little privacy and the sound of televisions, chatter, coughing, snoring, and other noises can be heard regularly throughout the day and night. The tenants share a common bathroom and cook on hot plates in the hallways.