Austin losing African-American population
East 12th Street is lined with tired, vacant buildings covered in graffiti. One block over, East 11th Street is bordered by high-priced boutiques, catering to people who weren’t born in this neighborhood. Joyce Nesby, a 52-year member of Simpson United Methodist Church on East 12th Street, knows exactly how these neighboring streets ended up so different.
According to a 2016 report by The Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis, the number of African Americans in Austin is declining. From 2000 to 2010, while the population in Austin grew, the African-American population declined by 5.4 percent. The report concluded this group left Austin, primarily, because it became unaffordable.
Nesby recalls growing up among black business owners, including her own mother, on 6th Street until her family was unable to afford the property tax prices. This trend, she explained, has persisted in her east Austin neighborhood.
“I am the only original neighbor on my block,” said 73-year-old Nesby. “Everyone else has been priced out.”
The system, from Nesby’s view, has been such that, in a primarily black neighborhood, homeowners either move because they can’t afford their taxes or pass their home on to younger relatives, who sell the house to developers. These developers purchase the home or property for a low price, create newer, more expensive housing, and sell it to more affluent newcomers at a higher price. This, in turn, drives up property values and taxes.
In this system, the first to leave are homeowners with children, said Eric Tang, University of Texas professor who contributed to the report. The second leading reason for the African American decline in Austin, the report noted, is people leaving in search of better schools.
“[The] sense of community is gone,” Tang said. “Whereas once children played in the streets and playgrounds, and parents got to know each other through their kids, that just doesn’t exist anymore.”
Tang explained, while some buildings remain vacant, newer residents reoccupy others. However, they are being reopened with goods and services the old residents cannot afford or don’t need.
The change in local stores, the reduced enrollment in neighborhood schools and a lessened sense of community, has diminished “the daily life of African Americans and community building,” Tang said.
The gentrification of the African-American population in Austin has been rooted in more historical, racial problems.
Inside a union workers building, on Nov. 9, community members from the east side of Austin, discussed gentrification and displacement of minorities. Susana Almanza, community and environmental activist, spoke about the Austin City Plan of 1928 that forced blacks and Mexicans into settlements in East Austin. For years, activists fought for basic neighborhood improvements in this area.
“Communities don’t deserve to be displaced just because they got the amenities they have been needing for decades,” said Carmen Llanes Pulido, executive director of GO! Austin/ ¡VAMOS! Austin at the discussion.
While this city is a constantly changing one, the displacement of the African-American population in Austin is not simply a part of a constant change. When high-income residents live alongside middle to low-income residents, the latter ends up moving out of the area. This means the working class leaves and service jobs go unfilled.
“Let’s say we give social mobility a grade ‘A, B, C, D…’” Tang said. “Austin is getting a C- right now. The reason everyone should care about this right now is, cities where social mobility is limited, where people can’t move from one social class to the next, are cities that are not sustainable long-term.”
The City of Austin has also acknowledged the ongoing issue. On the City of Austin website, one of The Top Ten Big Demographic Trends explains that “a few decades ago African Americans made-up around 15% of the city’s population and just a few decades from now African Americans could represent a mere 5%.”
Currently, the issue has only been addressed by discussion not action. The mayor established The Anti-Displacement Task Force, which first met Dec. 1. The force has five main categories of action, including a plan to “commit to a 10-month process that will culminate in identifying sources of information that will reveal the depth of the problem in our communities, set metrics and goals, and give preliminary recommendations for displacement prevention.”
As the neighboring streets change around them, the African-American population waits to see what will be done on their behalf.
“I just wish there was something we could do to maintain the neighborhood as it was, but I know that everything changes, progress and all that,” Nesby said. “From what I’ve heard, I’ve not seen it [the new Austin zoning plan] they are leaving the zoning up to the city council, which, they have no invested interest in. I feel like its something we should do.”
