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."