Gentrifying New York's Neighborhoods

The presence of gentrification in New York City conjures many different ideas depending on the perspective from which it comes. For some, gentrification is a dirty word indicative of an affluent social group snatching housing from those who are less fortunate. For others, gentrification means the re-urbanization of a once destitute neighborhood; the residents in the higher tax bracket contribute to the improvement of community infrastructure. Whatever it means, it brings change, and change can either be looked at as a good or bad thing.

The Process of Gentrification

Gentrification in NYC is hardly a new development. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, artists and galleries occupied areas such as SoHo, TriBeCa and Chelsea. Residential housing was in high demand. Upscale amenities were built around these areas, where retail renters eventually priced out the artists, pushing them into the North Chelsea community.

During the first stage of gentrification, the initial resident influx starts off innocently enough. The new social group, usually comprised of single artists and students of a similarly low income, move into a neighborhood populated by low-income families.

Consequentially, the idea of rent increases takes root. Landlords assume other high-income residents will be attracted to the neighborhood because they feel they have something to contribute to the new social groups blossoming in that area.

As the socioeconomic movement becomes increasingly progressive, a middle-class slowly eases into the fabric of the community. The middle class group requires affordable housing, but has the ability to pay more than the base rate of the lower-income residents. Retail developers become aware of the changes in the community and they begin building businesses catering to the middle-class.

The business model of gentrification has a significant impact: the low-income community becomes completely priced-out and families are displaced to the nearest low-income neighborhood. Currently, neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens are experiencing this first hand.

An American Housing Survey taken in 2003 revealed staggering figures. Approximately 225,000 NYC renters, who are at or below the poverty line, were displaced from neighborhoods because of a rise in the cost of living. Of those renters, 96,000 were displaced at the hands of private landlords or government action. Some of these residents were under the assumption they were protected by the rent control policy.

Some believe the private landlords do not have consideration for existing residents. "Middle class professionals live in Canarsie, Brooklyn, but there are [property poachers] buying houses on Rockaway Parkway," senior business management major Lakeia Alvaranga said. "Signs that says 'We will buy your house in cash' are now being scattered around the neighborhood."

The expansive nature of gentrification leaves a bad taste in the mouths of former residents and student observers. Senior communications major Danielle Woodson observed the changes in Spanish Harlem: "While in Spanish Harlem this summer, residents of the George Washington Carver Projects are being forced out," she said. The authorization created by income-to-income politics adds a thick veil of contempt for the high-income groups moving into these areas. Woodson continued, "People should not be kicked out of their homes because someone else has a bigger paycheck."

Race and Class Tension

The alleged "White Flight" after World War II involved many affluent whites moving out to the open spaces of the suburbs, taking their business and tax dollars with them. Numerous minorities were unable to follow the whites to the suburbs due to economic restrictions or racial discrimination. With significantly lower funding for the urban communities, conditions began to deteriorate. Simultaneously, funding from the government was minimal with the belief that funds would be squandered. These neighborhoods quickly became high-need and crime-ridden. Subsequently, a long-standing stigma developed: New York is a slum where you cannot walk down Atlantic Avenue without getting pick-pocketed. This perspective still pervades.

Even though Brown vs. Board of Education abolished "separate but equal" in 1954, there is still an unspoken rule that those of different races should remain in enclaves with their own kind. Unfortunately, this leaves many minority ethnicities in low-income neighborhoods because they do not hold the title of the wealthy class and are still faced with institutional discrimination.

Giulie Delabrena, a communications major from Fairfield, Conn.-an area often associated with the wealthy and elite-reinforced a stigma often linked with minorities. Delabrena said, "My mother doesn't want me living in Bushwick. It has to do with the people I'll become friends with. Unfortunately, blacks and Hispanics have bad connotations in the city that they are really poor and drug dealers."

Though Delabrena expressed that they have the very same problem in her affluent area of Connecticut, she continued, "It's extremely wealthy but there's a ton of drugs." Many that live elsewhere still agree with Delabrena's mother that NYC is a den of sin but residents of New York within the past decade believe differently.

Various new arrivals to the city appreciate that gentrification is removing it of its underbelly. Longtime inhabitants like Denise Santiago, the university's director of multicultural affairs, and communications major Sian Duprey both understand the benefits gentrification has on cleaning up their community; they also think it divides the masses and decreases character. Santiago said, "You know your community is in trouble when it acquires an unwanted acronym like SpaHa (Spanish Harlem) or SoBro (South Bronx)."

Duprey said, "I guess it's positive that they're removing druggies, but I don't know if want all my old neighbors being replaced by yuppies."

The negative depiction of minorities makes many of them feel uncomfortable by an influx of whites in the neighborhood. Minorities could be subjected to prejudice and racial profiling; these are experiences they haven't had to worry about prior to moving into a neighbor that may be less tolerant.

Psychology major Samuel Jeannite believes cultural familiarity plays a role. "People are always more comfortable around people that they are culturally familiar with. I lived around black people so that's what I'm used to," he said.

Jeannite disputed the idea of gentrification always being a class issue. "If white people move in, I am pretty sure my father is going to be like, 'Roseville has nice housing. Let's move there.' There are a lot of black people in Roseville but it's a nice calm neighborhood. It has less to do with anger and more with being comfortable."

When a neighborhood is being gentrified, a sense of community and identity is lost among the original residents. Sian Duprey spoke of her experiences in Spanish Harlem, which, in fact, is being dubbed SpaHa by Real Estate agents as well.

She said, "Its a domino effect: [new] people move in and they stop patronizing all the businesses and people have to move out somewhere they can afford, which is definitely not Manhattan." She stressed gentrification is equally culturally and class related: "[The new residents] will go to the CVS or these others [chains] 'cause not everyone that works there speaks English, so they're kind of scared to go [into the minority operated stores]," Duprey said.

Some that would consider themselves realists believe that we still have a while before all races will be able to live together in relative harmony. Jeannite used the comparison of pouring honey through a microscopic hole to describe how much of a gradual change it would be before different social groups can work together.

Gentrification and what we can do

Since 1990, when murder rates in the city hit their highest, crime has drastically decreased and housing conditions in the city are at an all time high, but at what cost? The extreme displacement shown in the 2003 American Housing Survey and also the 2005 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, which said that of all renter households in the city, almost 29 percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for gross rent, illustrating the negative effects of a surge in housing prices.

Early in Mayor Bloomberg's term, he announced his ambitious New Housing Marketplace Plan, the City's largest affordable housing program since the Koch Administration.

The plan pledged to create or preserve 65,000 units of affordable housing by 2008. In April 2005 Bloomberg increased his commitment to 68,000 units.

Bloomberg plans to build 91, 637 new units and preserve 73, 395 units between 2004 and 2013. Of the total units created and preserved, 21 percent will be for families of four with an income of $75,360 and over. 11 percent will be for families of an income between $50,240 and $75,360. 68 percent of the units will be for families with an income of $0-$50,240. He also plans on offering tax incentives for the developers to build affordable housing.

Finally, he allocated $1,264,000 towards a less addressed issue: Housing Education. Housing education funds are put towards centers and websites to help low-income families understand how to purchase or rent affordable housing.

Bloomberg's programs may have a positive effect on curbing the demolition of historic neighborhoods to make space for luxury co-ops, but what will emerge? Will the original residents that are forced to move into public housing feel unwanted in their own homes? Can we guarantee that these programs will allow the needs of low-income residents to be just as important as high-income residents needs?