Brooklyn is no stranger to gentrification. Once gritty Williamsburg is now home to luxury brands like Chanel and Le Labo–NYU’s own Furman Center has even cited it as the most gentrified of all New York neighborhoods between 2010 and 2020. Williamsburg is not alone, either; condos and converted lofts now line the streets of nearby Greenpoint, which used to be a working-class industrial neighborhood.
Until the 2010s, much of the neighborhood change was limited to Northern Brooklyn. However, in the last decade or so, the looming specter of gentrification has begun to creep southward to Central Brooklyn–starting with the historically black community of Bedford-Stuyvesant, often referred to as “Bed-Stuy”, which is known for having the largest concentrated African-American population in the United States. While they have not experienced the same transformation as Bed-Stuy, the other neighborhoods that comprise majority-black Central Brooklyn, Crown Heights and Flatbush, both seem poised for the next wave of displacement.
While there is always a socioeconomic component of gentrification, the racial component is often swept under the rug. As higher-income people move in, how does the racial composition of a neighborhood change as well? As a majority-black area of Brooklyn, it feels particularly worth our attention to examine the changing demographics of Bed-Stuy, and Central Brooklyn as a whole, given the United States’ legacy of redlining, exclusionary zoning, and racially-motivated “urban renewal” projects and displacement.
What is gentrification?
Gentrification is a complicated process, and does not have one single definition, but refers to a process of forced economic displacement, typically in underinvested neighborhoods; higher-income residents begin to move in due to more affordable rents, and as a neighborhood becomes more popular, real estate investment typically follows. The process continues until “all or most of the original working-class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed.” While gentrification may have some positive impacts, the negatives are often disproportionately experienced by the original, lower-income residents.
While primarily discussed as a socioeconomic concept, gentrification cannot be divorced from race, as it is “deeply rooted in settler colonialism, anti-Black racism, and capitalism.” Gentrification often continues the cycle of racial segregation that has long troubled American cities. According to a study at Stanford, the negative impacts of gentrification are disproportionately felt by minorities. Minority communities tend to have fewer options of where they can move in the face of displacement, and “tend to move to poorer non-gentrifying neighborhoods within the city.” Black families have owned property in Bed-Stuy for decades, and now may be forced to relocate, or watch as their neighborhood’s character changes dramatically in front of their eyes.
Changing Demographics in Bed-Stuy and Beyond
As a whole, the racial composition of Central Brooklyn — Community Districts BK3, BK8, BK9, BK14, and BK17 — has changed significantly since 2000. Per data from NYU’s Furman Center, at the start of the millennium, the area was 69.8% black, and today it is 47.1% black, a decrease of 22.7% over the last two decades. The changes in Central Brooklyn are not spatially equal; the northern half of Central Brooklyn, Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights North, have experienced the vast majority of demographic changes.
As the poster child for gentrification in Central Brooklyn, the change in Bed-Stuy’s racial composition since 2000 is astounding. In 2000, the neighborhood was 74.9% black and only 2.4% percent white, living up to its nickname of “Little Harlem.” Over the next two decades, the proportion of black residents nearly halved to 40.4%, while the proportion of white residents dramatically increased to 32.7%. While the majority of Bed-Stuy’s residents are still black, it is more diverse than ever.
Just south of Bed-Stuy lies Crown Heights, which has not yet experienced such dramatic investment and demographic change as Bed-Stuy. But in recent years, there has been an influx of higher-income residents, likely due to spillover effects from its proximity to Bed-Stuy. Long-time residents are now being forced to reconsider relocation. Northern Crown Heights is represented by Community District BK8, which borders Bed-Stuy and also represents Prospect Heights. Separated from BK8 by Eastern Parkway, Community District BK9 represents Crown Heights South and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.
In 2000, Crown Heights North had a larger proportion of Black residents than Bed-Stuy at 78.1%. The same year, white residents made up 7.4% of the neighborhood. Crown Heights North has not quite changed as dramatically as Bed-Stuy, but the data suggests that it could catch up quickly. In comparison, the demographics of Crown Heights South have changed even slower, although this could change as the northern Crown Heights begins to experience more advanced gentrification.
Flatbush, the last of the neighborhoods that comprise Central Brooklyn, has long been one of Brooklyn’s more diverse neighborhoods, with a primarily Afro-Caribbean population. Flatbush is represented by Community District BK14, which also includes the predominantly white, middle-class neighborhoods of Kensington and Midwood.
As BK14 has consistently been more diverse than the other neighborhoods in Central Brooklyn, and already contains more affluent sections, it’s hard to draw any significant conclusions about how Flatbush has changed since 2000. However, the relative share of BK14’s black population has decreased from 37.4% to 26% since 2000. East Flatbush, represented by Community District BK18, has experienced relatively minor demographic changes since 2000.
Changing Community Character
The relevance of race goes beyond socioeconomic impacts and the displacement of long-term black residents of Central Brooklyn. Bed-Stuy continues to be a majority-black neighborhood, but the influx of primarily white residents has a significant impact on the neighborhood’s character and culture.
Vox’s Jerusalem Demsas writes:
“Even if you’re able to stay in your neighborhood and your home, watching store after store pop up that doesn’t serve your community or isn’t available to you at your income level can be deeply alienating. It’s no wonder that people who have faced centuries of disinvestment grow angry as public and private money flows into their neighborhoods only after high-income, college-educated people choose to move there. Even if those people are not wholly responsible for the inequality, the blatant injustice is hard to ignore.”
The changing dynamics of Central Brooklyn could lead to weaker community networks and and an increase in “spaces that exclude low-income individuals and people of color”, leading not only to resentment but increased racial and socioeconomic segregation.
Fighting Gentrification
So, how do we combat the negative impacts of gentrification? There is no easy solution given the complicated nature of the issue.
One solution is to invest more in disadvantaged communities — which may seem somewhat counter-intuitive, as increased investment is often what catalyzes gentrification in the first place. However, investment in non-gentrifying neighborhoods could “ensure that disadvantaged movers are not limited to neighborhoods with high levels of disadvantage, high crime and low-quality schools.”
Another solution that attempts to get to the root of the issue is organizing communities against voluntary displacement and advocating for better rights for tenants. One such example is the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, which gives tenants the first opportunity to purchase their building if their landlord decides to sell. Tenants can convert purchased buildings into community land trusts and other forms of cooperative and social housing.
Dozens of other policy solutions include inclusionary zoning policies, more social and public housing, and the establishment of more community land trusts.
While Bed-Stuy and Central Brooklyn have already experienced dramatic demographic and socioeconomic change over the last few decades, that doesn’t mean that it awaits the same fate as Williamsburg. By advocating for more affordable housing policies, investing in services for disadvantaged communities, and advocating for tenants rights, among other things, the residents of Central Brooklyn can resist the displacement wrought by gentrification.
Click here to download the code used to produce the graphs in this article.