Gentrification, also known to some as the “Back to the City Movement” or “Urban Turnaround”, is a term that describes the changes that occur in a neighborhood when people with higher incomes begin to move in in large numbers. These changes occur to meet the standards and desires of the new inhabitants and include (but are not limited to) urban renewal projects, new businesses, a heavier police presence, and an increase in the cost of living which results in the displacement of the long-time residents with lower incomes. Though gentrification is a fairly recent phenomenon, only roughly dating back to the 1990’s, the groundwork for its existence began almost a century ago during the Great Depression.
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president in the 1930’s, he rolled out a series of government plans and programs, known as the New Deal, meant to provide relief for Americans struggling after the market crash of 1929. Programs created under the Housing Act of 1934 were specifically dedicated to creating better and more affordable housing opportunities for working class families, and during this time, entire housing developments were created across the country— including New York City’s very own Housing Authority (NYCHA).
In order to regulate how the new developments were being filled, strict policies were implemented that dictated who could move into a neighborhood by deciding who could be approved for mortgages or rentals. Redlining, one of the strategies used to enforce this regulation, was the practice of city planners taking maps of cities and outlining different areas with different colors to categorize the desirability of each neighborhood. Neighborhoods outlined in red were “least desirable” or “high risk” for lenders, almost always because they had higher populations of black or non-white residents or bordered a neighborhood that did. Banks and lenders refused to approve mortgage loans to families in “high risk”/”less desirable” redlined areas, and also denied mortgages to black families seeking housing in “more desirable” areas where white people lived. The reason being, there was a fear (rooted in nothing but racism) that the value of a property or neighborhood decreased when black families moved in. Now, don’t get me wrong, there were some new housing opportunities for black families, but they were in completely separate areas from the ones set aside for white families and they only made up a fraction of the opportunities set aside for whites.
Redlining was outlawed in theory with the passing of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 meant to protect people facing disrimination in housing. By this time many northern cities had already begun seeing larger populations of black Americans and Puerto Ricans looking for better opportunities, due to the ongoing “Great Migration” and annexation of the island. As a result, white people also began moving in large numbers, mainly out of areas bordering redlined neighborhoods, looking to get away from their new neighbors of color. Their exodus, known as the “White Flight”, was facilitated by the development of highway systems that made commuting to suburban areas surrounding large cities faster and easier. Though this type of migration began in the 1950’s, it is still seen in practice today in many diversifying suburbs across the country.
Now, how does all of this relate to gentrification you ask? Allow me to explain. Over the years, there has been an increase in urbanization across the globe. What this means is that more and more people are leaving rural areas and city-outskirts for more urban areas for various reasons, but mainly for employment opportunities. Not only are there more cities than there were ever before, but the population sizes of these cities are growing very quickly creating a large demand for housing. The United States is not exempt from this trend. Across the country, the suburbs are losing a lot of their appeal for young adults, and many businesses are relocating to metropolitan areas taking their work forces with them.
Today, due to the current income inequality crisis, American people are facing very similar financial strains as they were prior to the New Deal. Young college graduates moving to cities for employment opportunities are finding it difficult to find housing they can afford in more “desirable areas” (as per redlining guidelines). The reason being for this is two fold; on one part, they simply aren’t earning enough money to afford it, and on the other, property value in more affluent areas has compounded over time. The continued investment in areas that were not restricted from receiving loans led to increases in property value and huge concentrations of wealth, while the exact opposite happened in areas that were redlined. Today, when young professionals are seeking affordable housing in large cities their only options just so happen to be the redlined neighborhoods that went ignored for decades.
There’s an old saying that states ‘nothing happens overnight’ and it holds especially true for the process of gentrification in cities across the country. The factors that led to what we are currently experiencing in many low-income black/latino/non-white/immigrant neighborhoods were decades in the making and began as federal policies that were seemingly good, but intentionally unfair. This example of systemic injustice is just one of the many that have been experienced by black and latino people in this country, and reparative action must be taken to address the extreme wealth gap it created.
Additional reading:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.858.1477&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Forever Thugnacious 