Baldwin 1

Caleb Baldwin
Ms. Bryner
English 12 - 5
26 September 2016
Annotated Bibliography: Cost of Housing
Research Question: Has the cost of housing negatively affected the economic status of low-wage
and minority families in the United States?
A Housing Plan With Teeth. New York Times. 11 August, 2015. Web. 15 September 2016.
Summary: The mayor of New York City proposed a plan to provide low-income families with
affordable housing. He wants to require communities to provide a certain percent of low-wage
housing, so that others will be able to survive. However, the author is unsure whether the mayor
will be able to enforce this plan. He or she believes that affordable is too subjective of a term:
affordable could still be too much for minimum wage workers. The housing market in New York
City is extremely highly priced; even the least expensive, and least safe, apartments are too much
for minority and minimum wage workers.
Evaluation: The article appears reliable, as it references events that were previously published by
the same newspaper. The article was moderately useful, as it did address the effect that housing
can have on minorities and low-wage workers. However, it focuses entirely on the mayors plan
and the reasons why it wont work, rather than providing additional evidence for those effects.
The authors skepticism and cynicism demonstrate his bias in this article. A major drawback to
this source is that it is only applicable in New York City and the issue is not guaranteed to persist
in other areas of the country.
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed. Metropolitan Books. 2001.

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Summary: The author, Barbara Ehrenreich, decides to perform an experiment in which she joins
the minimum wage workers of the United States. She discovers the low quality of housing that
accompanies the low pay. She also begins to realize the amount of effort that is required to earn
such little pay. One of the main expenses for low-wage workers is housing. At one point,
Ehrenreich payed around 40% of her wages to rent an awful apartment.
Evaluation: The information appears reliable, as it is accompanied by supporting evidence and
has been reviewed and published professionally. It is an useful source as it addresses the topic
quite well and shows the effect of overpriced housing. The author is biased; from the start, she
makes a sarcastic remark about the amount of money she spent on her lunch that day and
discusses with her friend how minimum wage women are supposed to survive. However, a major
drawback for this source is that the information is almost 18 years out-of-date. The information
provided may no longer be accurate. Conversely, the source has changed my opinion and created
enough curiosity to research whether or not this is still valid today.
Who Gets the Subsidized Apartments? New York Times. 5 July 2016. Web. 15 September
2016.
Summary: Some of citizens tax dollars finance federal affordable housing. Usually, these
apartments do not include entertainment and relaxation amenities; recently, however, more of
these such amenities are being included, which raises the price of the apartments. This worries
many that this affordable housing will only be affordable to rich tenants. They are also afraid that
minority tenants will be passed up for white tenants, while leaving the unsubsidized apartments
for the other races/ethnicities. A third and final concern is that the amount of money it costs to
build subsidized apartments is much higher and could result in less families served, defeating the
original purpose of federally funded housing.

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Evaluation: The information appears reliable; it is supported by evidence and has been reviewed
and published in a professional newspaper. It is an useful source as it directly addresses the topic
and shows the effects of race and income on quality of housing. It also portrays the effect of the
cost of apartments on certain minorities and income levels. The data is biased, as the unknown
author suggests solutions to a problem that they feel needs to change. The negative aspects of
this article are that it only addresses the issue in a couple large and expensive cities in the United
States and focuses on segregation in housing.