What I’ve learned about Bed-Stuy So far…

While I feel like my research on my local issue is far from complete, I’ve been able to gather a decent amount of information on it and learn more about the issue. I wanted to explore the topic from both a logistical standpoint and a moral one, so I made an effort to learn about the different types of effects that it had.

One clear outcome of the increased gentrification of Bed-Stuy has been, the financial impact that it’s had. On one hand, it affects the housing market and people looking to develop the area. There have been many developers who either want to buy properties, such as traditional brownstones, and sell them for triple the price that they paid, or they wish to demolish older buildings and place condos or apartments in their place. Many residents of neighborhoods such as DUMBO or Park Slope jumped at the opportunity to buy a brownstone for less than a million dollars, rather than paying up to eight million dollars for an apartment in their respective neighborhoods. It has pulled many people of higher income into the neighborhood, and with them came boutiques and restaurants. The neighborhood is transforming and more and more establishments are being built to fulfill the desires of these new inhabitants of the neighborhood. They also have more money to spend on goods so there’s a greater financial incentive for store owners to come to the neighborhood.

While the gentrification of the neighborhood has had a financial impact on those coming into the neighborhood, it’s also had a more detrimental impact on the preexisting residents of the neighborhood. There are more and more instances where families that have lived in the area for generations are being forced out of their homes, for varying reasons. There have been some instances where elderly residents have been coerced into selling their homes to developers and some are simply swindled due to their lack of knowledge of the value of their homes. Since the neighborhood was traditionally dominated by low-income residents, some had to sell their homes simply because of financial burdens being placed on them. Families that can’t afford certain repairs that are deemed more necessary as the neighborhood is “improving” are forced into foreclosure. Additionally, the increased housing prices have driven up the cost of rent to almost double what it was in 2000, while poverty rates have only increased. This has resulted in people seeking housing from NYCHA, which is already underfunded and difficult to get into, so many people end up in homeless shelters. The Brooklyn-focused news publisher, Brownstoner even states “ Brownsville is cited in the report from the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness as sending the most families into homeless shelters; Bed Stuy is №2. The report covers the years 2005 to 2010 and notes that during this period, Bed Stuy was in the very earliest stages of gentrification. “.