Where are the experts on displacement?
The vocal leaders of New York City’s displacement debate are failing vulnerable communities
Gentrification is something we’ve been hearing a lot about these days. If you’re in New York City, gentrification usually preludes or follows discussions about local cafés, Williamsburg, hipsters, and just about anything and everything emblematic of our changing city.
Although gentrification feels of the zeitgeist, it is not a new phenomenon, but time hasn’t made it any easier to define. On Monday, September 19, at the NYU Furman Center, LISC hosted the “Convening about Neighborhood Change, Displacement, and Equitable Development” — a series of forums meant to quell any doubts in the folks tasked with solving New York’s gentrification and displacement problem.
The agenda for the event read like a regular ‘who’s who’ of policy makers, scholars, researchers and their ilk, all there to talk amongst themselves about a housing issue many seemed personally unaffected by. Wild assumption, yes, but understanding the nuances and emotional strain of gentrification and displacement is less an exercise in research, and more a fact of experience. During the final forum, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Vicki Been declared, “The cause of displacement is when the housing supply does not meet the housing demand.” Well, tell that to Brooklyn Heights or Tribeca or Yorkville, or the many other neighborhoods in this city where there is a housing demand — what’s the difference between those neighborhoods and East Harlem or the South Bronx?
Until our experts can understand that gentrification and displacement are race and class issues, not simply a problem of supply and demand, how can they be expected to make the right decisions for the predominately lower-income communities of color most likely to be displaced?
Want to know more?
Here’s what I’m reading:
- “New Tool Shows New York Neighborhoods at Risk of Rent Hikes” (NY Times)
- “Displaced, Dispersed, Disappeared: What Happens to Families Forced Out of Bushwick?” (City Limits)
- The Gentrification of Harlem? (PDF — Richard Schaffer and Neil Smith)
New Harlem World covers stories relating to displacement, gentrification, and social unrest in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. You can reach Martika Ornella on Twitter @martikaornella. New Harlem World is also on Tumblr, and will soon be available as a seasonal zine.
