Introduction

            New York City is noted as one of the best cities in the world. Usually, when one thinks about New York City, they are quick to think about skyscrapers, the infamous city that never sleeps, one of the most populated cities, etc. However, New York City is not all sunshine and rainbows, there is a major social-economic issue that New York City is currently facing. The places that most tourist visit in New York City is what most people think about when they hear about New York City, however, travel further north to Upper Manhattan, also known as Harlem, or by going deeper into Brooklyn and you will find communities like Sunset Park, Flatbush, and Brownsville. All these neighborhoods have two things in common; they are made up of low-income immigrants who have been long established in those communities and they are all facing gentrification, some are facing it worse than others. Development may be a good thing for the city; however, development usually means the gentrification of neighborhoods. Poor people are forced out of their homes, displaced out of their communities, out of where they were raised and born, due to a higher social class of people moving into these communities. Therefore, causing rents to rise, property values to increase, and everything around them to increase.

This great disparity in income between social classes allows gentrification to be effective in transforming the neighborhood since the lower-class people cannot keep up with the prices that they are facing. Therefore, this begs the question, to what extent has gentrification affected New York City’s low-income neighborhoods such as Harlem and Sunset Park? Harlem and Sunset Park neighborhoods were chosen to be studied because of their similar composition and the history they have with gentrification. These communities are populated mainly with African Americans/Hispanics and Hispanics/Asians, respectively. Therefore, they are communities filled with immigrants. Most of them have been established in these communities for decades. Additionally, many immigrants have low-income jobs and work multiple jobs in order to feed their families. However, the main reason these two communities differ, besides their location, is that Harlem has been experiencing gentrification for years while Sunset Park has recently been experiencing gentrification. These two communities are great to examine the effect gentrification has had on them due to both communities mainly being inhabited by an immigration population. Additionally, Harlem has been experiencing gentrification for a longer time than Sunset Park, therefore the differences between the effect’s gentrification have had on both communities will be seen clearly while examining them.

Definition of Gentrification

            Gentrification is not a new topic of discussion; it has been happening for years. However, gentrification has become broadly based, therefore, there is no precise definition of what gentrification means as it has evolved. According to the 1908 Oxford American Dictionary, gentrification is the “movement of middle-class families into urban areas causing property values to increase and having [the] secondary effect of driving out poorer families.” However, today the Oxford American Dictionary defines gentrification as, “to change an area, a person, etc. so that they are suitable for, or can mix with, people of a higher social class than before.” This definition changed completely since the gentrification before was mainly based on families moving into low-income neighborhoods to live in there, however, industrial areas started to become gentrified such as New York’s Soho. “Along with residential restructuring, the process especially involves commercial redevelopment (boutiques for food, furniture, and pets as well as for clothes) and a new development of recreational facilities…” (Schaffer 1986). Hence demonstrating how the gentrification that most people usually think about, which is the old definition of gentrification which simply states the displacement of low-income people from their homes, is not what it means. Gentrification has expanded to include residential areas, industrial areas, commercial areas, etc. However, the concept of redeveloping the area and people of a higher social class moving into these areas is still present.

History of Gentrification

Gentrification has been happening for centuries. It is not only occurring in cities in the United States such as New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, etc., it is also a global occurrence. “Inner city gentrification is widely recognized as international phenomenon” (Carpenter 1995), other major cities such as London, Pairs, and Berlin are also experiencing gentrification. However, these cities are experiencing a different degree of gentrification. “Smith suggested that ‘America versus Europe’ is a false dichotomy. He argued that the differences between gentrification in the United States and Europe are a matter of degree rather than kind, and propose that ‘there may be greater differences within Europe than between Europe and the US.’” (Carpenter 1995). In order to dive deep into the history of gentrification, Smith a well-recognized Geographer whom ran Columbia University’s Geography Department, suggested that gentrification in cities was an “economic process supported by urban land prices and city land speculation, rather than by cultural preferences for living in the city” (Smith 1979). By accepting Smith’s theory of how gentrification is ultimately formed, we can concluded that the idea of gentrification as a way to conform to middle-class taste is incorrect and that it is the simple reason that the city land is limited that causes gentrification to form. Furthermore, wealthy people around the world started taking higher risk by investing in commercial real estate. They were able to privately own multi-family buildings, however, due to the high investment risk, rents will increase “…and/or the imposition of surcharges could result from efforts to augment returns.” (Fields 2014). Therefore, demonstrating how gentrification forces rents to rise. Wealthy people start investing into real estate and then they increase rents in order to make their money back as soon as possible. Therefore, the rising rents cause displacement. “For individual tenants, these measures may cause declining living conditions and increased housing insecurity; the loss of affordable units due to either physical deterioration or increased rents could pose a challenge to lower-income renters” (Fields 2014). Hence, demonstrating the difference between revitalization and gentrification. Gentrified neighborhoods allow displacement of low-income renters to move to other insecure neighborhoods, while revitalization allows low-income renters to stay in the neighborhood and continue paying the same amount of rent but in better living conditions. (Require 2019). Overall, gentrification has had a significant impact worldwide and has been identified to begin with

The Gentrification of Harlem

Gentrification has had a long presence in the history of the United States. “In 1970 U.S. census data, probable signs of gentrification began to show up at the scale of individual cities.” (Smith, 1979). It’s been about 50 years that the first signs of gentrification process were taking place amongst cities across the United States. The neighborhood, Harlem became a target for gentrification. “Harlem is an international symbol of black culture. Two themes dominate most contemporary images of Harlem. The first, a nostalgic image now, is the Harlem of Harlem Renaissance or of the Black Panthers (Anderson 1982; Lewis 1981). The second theme is Harlem the ghetto, one of the largest concentrations of black working-class and poor inhabitants in the U.S. (Osofsky 1971).” (Smith, 1979). Since this study was done years ago, there is enough evidence to suggest that Harlem is being gentrified. “According to the 1980 census, 96 percent of Central Harlem residents are black.” (Smith 1979). Now, more than 30 years later, “…blacks are no longer a majority of the population — a shift that actually occurred a decade ago, but was largely overlooked. By 2008, their share had declined to 4 in 10 residents.” (Roberts 2010). Therefore, the drastic change in population size demonstrates the effects of gentrification on Harlem. Furthermore, according the Urban Displacement Project, they mapped the displacement and gentrification in the New York Metropolitan Area, and by examining the map it demonstrates that the Urban Displacement Project categorizes Harlem as undergoing “Displacement of Low-Income Households”, ‘At Risk of Gentrification”, “Ongoing Gentrification”, “Advanced Gentrification”, “Stable Exclusion”, “Ongoing Exclusion”. Therefore, once again demonstrating the degree of gentrification that Harlem is experience and has experienced. This all began in the 1980s, “the rise of financial services, an expanded real estate industry, and state redevelopment of city centers began making urban real estate more amenable to capital flows, leading to theorisations of ‘land as a financial asset’” (Fields 2014). This demonstrates how the idea of making money through real estate was seen as a theory in the beginning, due to the lack of data and lack of an in-depth cost and benefits analysis, many people thought that the cost to maintain a real estate property simply outweighed the benefits. However, back then gentrification was seen as a solution to the problem of urban housing. Therefore, gentrification was encouraged by many people. Although it was years ago, not so long-ago Mayor Bloomberg also supported development for New York City. During Mayor Bloomberg’s last days in office, he was able to give the city a plan to build real estate in NYC. It was a $12 billion dollars’ worth of real estate projects. “…Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s final days include an outlet mall and a giant observation wheel on Staten Island, totaling $580 million, and a relatively modest $16 million building in Manhattan with 55 experimental micro-apartments, as well as a $2 billion residential complex on the Brooklyn waterfront and the country’s largest indoor skating complex, to be built in the Bronx.”(Bagli 2013). Although Bloomberg’s idea is not so long ago, it does contribute to gentrification’s history in New York City. The own Mayor promoted gentrifying and developing New York City, however, for most at the time it seemed as a great idea but since Bloomberg was making his project in his last days in office as Mayor, he was offering big discounts to giant companies in order for them to help develop New York City. However, “a spokeswoman for Mr. de Blasio, Lis Smith, said he would ‘review every project with an eye toward maximizing affordable housing, good jobs and value for taxpayers.’” (Bagli 2013). Therefore, supporting the idea that gentrification does not only help the wealthy, but it allows the lower-class people to obtain better housing, get better jobs, and get the value they deserve for paying more taxes. Additionally, people who support gentrification do not see it as menacing but more of an integration of culture. “Mr. Dodson, the Schomburg Center director, said one source of historic resentment remained: that blacks still accounted for a tiny minority of the area’s property owners. “There are people who would like to maintain Harlem as a ‘black enclave,’ but the only way to do that is to own it,” Mr. Dodson said. “That having been said, you can’t have it both ways: You can’t on the one hand say you oppose being discriminated against by others who prevent you from living where you want to, and say out of the other side of your mouth that nobody but black people can live in Harlem.” (Roberts 2010). Therefore, demonstrating that gentrification is not able to be stopped and it is not discriminatory. It’s more of an integration and going into a neighborhood knowing that it’s different and wanting to be apart of it. However, due to the real estate being cheaper and low-income neighborhoods needing housing improvements, gentrification is deemed as discriminatory.

The Gentrification of Sunset Park

Other examples of gentrification can be found in many neighborhoods of Brooklyn. However, a very outstanding neighborhood is Sunset Park due to its similarities with Harlem. Both communities are low-income neighborhoods, and both are well recognized for its immigrant population. As previously mentioned, Sunset Park has a big population of Hispanic immigrants and Chinese immigrants, while Harlem has a population that consists of African Americans and Hispanic immigrants. Additionally, Sunset Park has started to experience gentrification while Harlem has been experiencing gentrification for years. According to the New York City Counsel, “Rents have been trending upward in Sunset Park and Brooklyn in general since 2010.” Therefore, demonstrating that Sunset Park is currently experiencing gentrification but not at the same degree as Harlem. Furthermore, there is a new company called Industry City that is co-owned by 5 companies. According to the New York City Counsel, Industry City is a commercial landlord and developer, they invest in their property and rent the space out to different businesses. They have an active jobs hub and have allowed thousands of people to work at Industry City in hundreds of businesses. Therefore, leading many people in the community to believe that Industry City will be a catalyst for gentrification and allow displacement, higher rents, and everything to become expensive to happen much sooner. Furthermore, other neighborhoods that are similar to Harlem are Crown Heights and Flatbush. These neighborhoods consist of a predominately black population, are low-income neighborhoods, and are also being affected by gentrification. So much so that the black population also decrease. “Between 2000 and 2010, Crown Heights and the two neighborhoods to its south and east, Flatbush and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, all areas with large West Indian immigrant populations, each lost from 10 to 14 percent of their black populations, according to an analysis of the 2010 census released by the Department of City Planning.” (Yee 2015). Therefore, demonstrating once again how gentrification is having a negative effect on these communities, not at the extent as it had on Harlem but, nonetheless, all these communities are experiencing displacement just like Harlem. This leads to the thought that maybe all these smaller communities are going to go through what Harlem went through, therefore begging the question, is it possible to stop gentrification? Is there something that Harlem could’ve done differently that these communities could do in order to stop gentrification?

In a recent interview with Carlos Menchaca, the counselor of District 38 (Sunset Park and other neighboring communities), said that he is against gentrification. He brought to my attention that there are illegal practices going on due to gentrification and that he and his team are passing laws to protect Sunset Park residents. “Are low income families being displaced? Yes, especially immigrants who may not be connected to social services. I am against gentrification. As a Council Member, I do my best to bring programs and legal services so tenants can fight landlords who are trying to kick our neighbors out. We have passed many laws to help protect residents living in housing… We passed laws and increased funding for lawyers to protect Sunset Park residents. But we need more than that… we need more low income housing.” (Menchaca 2019). I was unaware of all the legal actions that Counselor Menchaca was doing and all the help he was providing. Additionally, he is opposed to Industry City building hotels and wants them to cooperate with the community and help the community instead.

Conclusion

In conclusion, gentrification is a complex topic. As demonstrated, there are different degrees of gentrification. Harlem has been facing gentrification for more years than Sunset Park and other Brooklyn neighborhoods, which could be seen through the decrease in immigrant population. Additionally, previous studies suggest that Harlem has always been a target for gentrification. Through an in-depth analysis, one can conclude that Harlem has been affected by gentrification longer than Sunset Park, however, Sunset Park is being gentrified at a faster rate, leading one to believe that they will be at the same degree of gentrification much sooner than expected. As Counselor Menchaca put it, “If we know that neighborhoods change, that the history of this city is a city that welcomes immigrants, people who come to make a better life for them and their children…if we know that, how can we make sure that the changes that are happening can also benefit them and their families…..the economy is changing too… and I am not sure that it is helping our neighbors. How can we make sure that any changes we can impact, like the rezoning, help people, not hurt (them?)” (Menchaca 2019).

          

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