The Truth Behind Gentrification in Bed-Stuy
Positive results can sometimes come at the expense of an underlying setback for others.
Bedford-Stuyvesant, widely known for its hip-hop background, corner store bodegas, and brownstones, like other neighborhoods in Brooklyn, has begun to enter the process of gentrification. What sets Bed-Stuy apart from the rest, is its culture. Black families owned property there for decades until recently, when city officials began to clean up the neighborhood. One may think that cleaning up the community is a positive, but that’s until you would see landlords raise rent prices for incoming young, urban professionals looking to move in with higher incomes.
Karen Garcia, who is the founder of makenewyorkgrimeyagain.com and a resident of Bed-Stuy believes that gentrification is one of the main factors leading to homelessness. “People were already facing homelessness due to the lack of resources, but gentrification even heightens it because these landlords are tailoring their rents to people who are leaving the places, they’re from and want to come to the hip and urban neighborhoods.” Says Karen. Young urban professionals are a part of the problem — while not their fault — landlords are to shoulder most of the blame, such as demolishing interior walls in one of these instances.
From 1990 to 2014, rent in Bed-Stuy has gone up by 36.1%.
Deborah Alves, who lives in a rent stabilized building in Flatbush, can relate to the residents in Bed-Stuy and says, “Most people in Bed-Stuy owned their own homes traditionally, and they lost their homes because children took it over and remortgaged their homes and lost them in foreclosure.” Deborah is right. When the recession hit in 2008, many homes were lost due to foreclosure. Bedford-Stuyvesant had the second highest number of foreclosures amongst the neighborhoods in Brooklyn in 2008–2010 and employed the eighth most foreclosures in the city of New York with 173. Truth is, not only were foreclosures forcing residents out of Bed-Stuy, but the emergence of businesses has played a pivotal role in landlords raising the rent. From 2000–2015, Bedford-Stuyvesant has placed 5th in the top 10 neighborhoods with fastest business growth from 857 business to 1,421 in 2015. That is a 67% increase! In the same time period, citizens aged 19–65 earning less than $25,000 has increased by 10,057, and residents of the same age group earning over $75,000 has increased by 9,054!
There is no secret that the emergence of businesses is resulting in higher rent prices, but what happens with those residents that are earning less than 25,000 annually? In 2005–2009, Bed-Stuy was the leader in community districts with families entering shelters at 2,500. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010, 30.7% of residents in Bed-Stuy were in poverty meaning that they could barely afford to pay their rent. There is a correlation between the rise in rent, income, and homelessness in the popular neighborhood, one can assume that gentrification leads to the cause of displaced residents in that neighborhood.
The population in shelters have greatly increased as a result, with Stuyvesant Heights/Bed-Stuy (Name change is one of the effects of gentrification) claiming the third most entries into family shelters at 2,025 from 2002–2012.
Amanda Chloe Samedy, a shelter security guard of various shelters in Brooklyn says, “Its heartbreaking when you see a kid come in at 2;00 in the morning, and the mother says, ‘I’ve been at path since 7:00 in the morning’ because the process is long, that child is tired, and you still have to hold them down for another 45 minutes to explain the rules and policies of the building” A child shouldn’t have to be subjected to homelessness this early in their lives, but in this age where gentrification is prominent, Is almost the norm. Yes, there are housing programs such as Section 8 and NYCHA, but landlords aren’t accepting residents with stabilized rent because they want to raise rent whenever they please. “The place that I’m at now — I been working there for two years — had clients that were there before i had even [started working there], Why?” Amanda continues.
It seems as if there is no end in sight for the epidemic that has somewhat plagued Bed-Stuy and its surrounding neighborhoods. Yes, the city’s neighborhood is being revamped with an influx of business and repairs, but what does any of that mean when it results in long-time residents being forced out in favor of newcomers with higher incomes? With the commercialization of Brooklyn rapidly growing, there may not be a solution to the issue unless a law is passed. Until then, we will continue to witness yet another one of Brooklyn’s legendary neighborhoods transform into a young, urban neighborhood.
