Tania Caldwell  

URB 200 

December 16, 2021       

   The housing market in New York City has been historically challenging for low-income people of color. First, the segregation system displaced many low-income families of color by creating housing in urban spaces in neighborhoods that are more likely to end in neighborhoods with limited social services resources. But today, gentrified areas are used as a strategy is used contributes to the displacement of families that cannot afford to pay for their housing. I will argue in this essay how decades of housing segregation and today gentrification, is using to situated low-income community (Most of them, community of color), in neighborhood where poverty and the lack social services negatively impact them.  To expand this argument, first,  I will use the article “Systemic Inequality: Displacement, exclusion, and Segregation” by Abril Castro, Connor Maxwell, and Danyelle Solomon, and the article “What Happened to the People? Gentrification and Racial Segregation in Brooklyn” by Themis Chronopoulos. Then, I will use the article “Housing Policy in New York City: A Brief History” by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, and “Gentrification in Brooklyn to Move a Neighborhood Forces Residents” by Vivian Yee, which will explain how gentrification is taking over today in some neighborhood of New York City, and  the article “Brownville Primed For Gentrification Map Shows¨by Katheen Culliton. In my perspective, the housing segregation system had shown for decades the inherently racism that existed in some institutions that denied low-income people of color to live in a good environment, where all can share social services, and an equally place to live. Although housing segregation is not part of the society, gentrification still development the same practice landlords are making from segregation a comparable way to keep low-income families outside of middle-class neighborhood. 

For decades, the federal government’s action to urbanize cities has contributed to the displacement of low-income people.  After the Great Depression in the 1930s, The Roosevelt administration passed the Homeowners Loan Act and National Housing Act to distribute affordable housing to Americans (Castro, Maxwell & Solomon,2019). The public housing system had been part of the lack of federal distribution of affordable housing in white neighborhoods, with discriminatory policies. The public housing system was part of the discriminatory policies against the African American community. Since the early 20th century, the federal government has expanded resources to construct suburban spaces, where only white people were welcome, living communities of colors displaced in condensed public housing in the urban areas (Castro, Maxwell & Solomon, 2019). Robert Moses, best known for being the designer of the urbanization system in New York City during the mid- 1900s, contributed to the displacement of a community of color in the metropolitan area and segregation in New York City. On his plan sponsored by the federal government, Moses built a city plan to remove African Americans and Latinos from Manhattan and created a public housing system in Brownville, Brooklyn, to segregate people of color in the same community (Chronopoulos, 2020). Because more people of color were low-income families, the city tried to place where they could afford to live, but the purpose of these displacements was to keep them in the same place.  

New York City had faced many housings crises throughout the year. In 1985 during the mayor Koch administration, when homelessness and housing crisis were visible, the government had the pressure to reduce the problem (Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy). As a solution to this crisis, the city created housing units to make it more affordable for all the people. The plan helped construct new apartments and renew other housing units, affordable for the middle class and low-income people. The main goal for this “Ten Year Plan” was to address the housing shortage resulting from the housing crisis and make affordable housing for all base income New Yorkers (Furman Center for Real Estates and Urban Policy). The plan was successful not only to make up for the housing shortage but also to integrate communities. Today in New York, the housing market is living through a new crisis because many affordable neighborhoods to low-income people have been gentrified for middle-class people (Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Polic).  As a result of gentrification, data shows that because low-income families could not live more in those neighborhoods. In other words, they are forced to live in prevalent poverty concentrated housing. Compared with middle-class residents, they are placed in single-family units (Goldenberg,2018). In other words, since the 1970s, the city has been active in building more units for a diverse unit of family to make it more affordable for people. However, the housing prices could separate mixed-income families in the same neighborhood.   

Gentrification is creating a new way to push low-income people of color from New York City neighborhoods, making housing less affordable. Although The moving of middle class and high-income people to low-income neighborhoods might be beneficial because it could bring social services tax form to communities. The coming of the white middle class to a mixed-income neighborhood could make rent most expensive, and as a result, it would prevent low-income people from continuing paying for affordable housing. In other words, the gentrification method could exacerbate the existing affordable housing market and exclude existing residents from the benefits that gentrification could have. One example is Brownville, an existing African American community, one of the neighborhoods that had been segregated for decades but today is at risk of being gentrified. The neighborhood that was classified a black community as “Hazardous,” and that in the 1940s, white people left because housing was devaluated, and investors avoided investing in those areas (Chronopolos, 2019). Today, gentrification is putting in risk the years of affordable housing that black people have in this community; a study said, “The study, using U.S. Census Bureau tract data to identify more than 1,000 gentrified neighborhoods across the country, found six Brownsville regions where housing prices have increased, in some places nearly doubling, while annual incomes increased by just about $5,000” (Culliton, 2019). The problem of gentrification is that the people who lived in the area cannot afford to live in the neighborhood, but they also end up being displaced in high concentration poor neighborhoods.   

New coming residents could contribute to a change in the economic and social resources. However, it could also be disadvantaged because most new residents in gentrified areas are more likely to be high income than the old residents. For example, we have a place such as Bronwville that has been the home for a large number of African Americans, most of them living in the neighborhood for decades with low prices in their housing. If the area is entirely gentrification, the landlords will increase the rent, and low-income families will be forced to leave the place that has been their community for decades (Yee,2015) Today, gentrification is still increasing in New York City areas. New residents are coming to those areas. The rent starts to increase, landlords push old tenants to move by, not repairing the unit, hoping that old tenants get tired of living in a deteriorate place (Yee, 2015). In addition, those new strategies to keep neighborhoods white middle-class communities, property owners are pushing low-income people to the neighborhood where they can afford to live. A study shows that many of those families who have to live community because it has been generated end with living in multiple family members families, and sometimes they can even afford to go for a who unit apartment because of the high price of housing in the same neighbor (Yee,2015). The worth part about a place that has been gentrified is that a place that might have been waiting for decades to change and received more resources might see the change, but after they are pushed out of those neighborhoods.   

To conclude, the housing market is still affecting low-income families. In the past, housing segregation was the way to move people of color from the white neighborhood; today, gentrification promises to continue to displace low-income residents. Presently, gentrification is taking the lead; it contributes to the displacement of families that cannot afford to pay for their housing. This essay will argue how, in the present, unfair housing practices for low-income families are still playing a role in housing inequity in New York City. As discussed in the previous paragraph, low-income communities might be waiting for a change in the neighborhood they live in for many years, but those changes come with high rents, pushing them to live outside of the place they lived for many years. In some way, the solution might not only be to displace them in a place where they can afford it but should be beneficial to make housing more affordable, where they live, and make New York City neighborhood more diverse for all.  Many of those neighborhoods that were part of generations of people of color, start to change, and most of those old residents would be able to be enjoy of those benefits. Fresh food markets, more funds for schools, and better housing conditions.  

https://gentrifiednyc.github.io/gentrification%20code.html

                                                 REFERENCES 

Chronopoulos, T. “What’s Happened to the People?” Gentrification and Racial Segregation in Brooklyn.  

Culliton, Kathleen. “Brownsville Primed For Gentrification Map Shows”. 2019 https://patch.com/new-york/brownsville/brownsville-primed-gentrification-new-map-shows 

The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. “Housing Policy in New York City: A Brief History”.   

 Yee,Vivian. Gentrification in Brooklyn To Move a Neighborhood Forces Residents.https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/nyregion/gentrification-in-a-brooklyn-neighborhood-forces-residents-to-move-on.html?smid=url-share 

Tania Caldwell  

URB 200  

December 02, 2021  

                                                      

Since the pandemic of Covid 19 started, one of the main concerns for many low-income families has been food. By the time the school closed for many months, it was more complicated for kids to have three meals a day than they had in school. In the article “Want to Fight Rising Food Insecurity?” Sara Bowen, Annie Hudson Moody interviewed 120 families whose members shared their experience with the lack of food before and during the pandemic. According to Bowen and Moody, “One out of every nine U.S. families was facing food insecurity before the COVID-10 crisis began; given steep the rise in unemployment rates, that number is sure to climb”. Food access in the United States is hard for low-income and poor families. In rural areas, transportation could be a problem for food shopping; many families do not have access to supermarkets close by. The lack of government support for enough food makes it hard for families to have proper meals every day in urban areas. In the case of undocumented immigrants, fear has been one of the main reasons they have food insecurity. For Immigrants, the fear of applying for food stamps or any food program support may lead to deportation. Food justice had not only been denied in some way to low-income families, but the government had also played a role in the distribution of social programs to support families with their food access. Bowen and Moody emphasize that although some families might receive food programs, sometimes it is not enough to feed their families, and as a result, they can run out of food. In the United States, families might have access to food programs, but it does not guarantee that they have access to enough food and fresh food.  

In the conversation “The Radical Origins of Food Justice Movement,” Erica Hughes, a member of the Black Panther Party and activist, explains how during the 1970s, the Black Panther Party created funds to feed communities, something that the government denied to black and Latinos communities during this period. Ericka pointed out that by asking parents what they eat, the Black Panther Party created free food programs and distributed bags of food to low-income families. In the conversation, one of the speakers, Devita Davison, talked about her experience reading the book “The Philadelphia Negro” by Du Bois; in her perspective, history has not been disconnected from the present; people of color have been the most disadvantaged. In a wealthy nation such as the United States, families still faced hunger and a lack of government aid with having enough food in their homes.  

It is impossible to think that in  a wealthy nation like the United States, is many families do not have access to proper nutrition. Although there are a lot of institutions that might support families, the government needs to try to distribute enough food to families. Food programs such as SNAP or WIC might support families, but it could not be enough for low-income families, and not everybody is eligible for this program. There are a few solutions that could help families to have more access to proper food. A community garden could be a solution so that families can access fresh food in their communities. Another solution should be government funds to institutions for food distribution, as Ericka said, by getting close to communities, asking the families what they would like to see more in their refrigerator, and creating a program to teach communities how to cook their meals. Hunger could be reduced or eliminated in the United States. However, I think the distribution matters; the government needs to ensure that those funds are appropriately distributed to communities and put those funds to institutions with close contact with the people. 

                    References  

The Radical Origins of Free Breakfast and the Food Justice Movement 

Sarah Bowen, Annie Hardson-Moody, and Sinikka Elliott. 2020.”Want to Fight Rising Food Insecurity? Listen to People Who’ve Been Hungry.” Civil Eats. 

Tania Caldwell  

Urban 200 

November 18, 2021 

                                             

In the interview “Democratizing NYC’s Gifted and Talented Education: The Color Lines of Brilliance”, Kaliris Salas-Ramirez explains how the ambitious standardized tests have negative impact African American and Latinos communities. According to the podcast the test had been in most southern schools, created in the 1970s to approve that white kids’ students were smarter, leaving African American, the students with higher perform had the access to because most of them still have better resources such as tutoring, resources in the schools, support. According to Salas-Ramirez, the Gifted and Talent tests are responsible for school segregation in New York City, the kids that earn high scores are more likely to be   placed in school with better resources. Today, Asian-Americans are more involved and better effects  cores in the Gift and Talented tests and faced, followed by whites’ kids, and African American and Latinos kids have less chance of getting placed in a high performing school. In New York, after many years on his administration, Mayor De Blasio had decided to eliminate the Gifted and Talented test, which would be replaced to reinforce kinder garden kids and end with decades of school segregation. 

The education gap not only impacts children at an early age but also in higher education. High education has been beneficial for American students, specifically African Americans and other non-white college students. But college debts hold a lot of students back when they finish college. The Interview “The life Altering Differences Between White and Black” Tressie McMillan Cotton interviewed Louise Seamster who emphasizes that because the federal government oversees most student loans, the government also can   eliminate student debt, and make high education free. A free and accessible higher education would not only help to reduce the gap between medium income and low income, but also would help more young people to contribute with their work to society. Louise described how American students still face the punishment for going to college, equal important, the student loan debt is a highly impacting community of color. According to Louise, student loan debts impact white and communities of color in the USA. On the other hand, communities of color have a high negative impact because of the lack of wealth and economic support with their family. Student debts could link to the lack of social and economic mobility, and since most white families have wealth, even if the young adult ends in debt, the family still can provide support with student loan payment, mortgaged, and other economic support. On the other hand, families of color could have a challenging time contributing to their child’s economic mobility and end with more debt and a long time to eliminate the debt.  

Communities of color are still behind in academic support in the public education system. On my opinion, community of color has fewer resources in school since the early grades, which could impact high school and college. The government punished the most vulnerable communities, with the demonstration of school performances, white children could have more support in school. At home, tutoring, access to art programs, more time with one of the parents at home because this parent can stay at home, all those facts contribute to the learning development of the child. On the other hand, most communities do not have access to tutoring, art programs, and parents might spend less time with the children because low income means more hours in the workforce. Now, everything could change the game if the government eliminated high-performance tests and instated add more programs for kids to improve their learning perform in school and at home. More programs could help close the gap in education between white and communities of color for decades.  

Tania Caldwell  

Urb200  

November 11, 2021  

                     

In the last year, the Black Lives Matter movement became stronger; after the death of George Flood, the media broadcast the encounter of African American men and the police every day. The article “Black Lives and Police Tactic Matter” by Rory Kramer, Brianna Renters, and Camille Charles explained different reasons for the disparity between African Americans and whites with policy every year. Some research shows that African Americans are most likely to be arrested by police. One reason could be that police assume that African Americans are violent, their physical look, or, sadly, encounter policy in poor and high crime neighborhoods. Also, other researchers showed that police and African Americans have more negative interactions because African American men are most likely to be involved in crime compared with white.  

In the podcast “Ruth Wilson Gilmore Make the Case of for Abolition,” Gimore described her point of view of the case that African American communities still face a high level of crime. Also, Gilmore described how those communities could overcome the incarceration by defunding the police and investing those funds in resources that could benefit African American communities. The police had been violently oppressing  African American for centuries, making strong during the Jim Crown era. Although the end of Jim Crown might have reduced the not reasonable arrest with police violence, today, more African American men face police brutality. The system has failed African American communities, which is the leading cause of condensing high crime communities and negative interaction between African Americans and polices. The rehabilitation in jails, governmental institutions such as public housing, environmental justice, and family support continue failing African American communities, where high crime and poverty negatively impact African Americans.   

The roof of crime in the African American community still lacks resources to improve their quality of life. The slavery system has been inherently in the economic and social life of African Americans. Fewer resources are distributed in African American Community which leaves more poverty and crime. Even after an African American man goes to the criminal justice system, the rehabilitation does not positively impact those men after getting out of jail. Today, some activists asked to defend the police. The mass fund that the police department receives every year should have been distributed to African American neighborhoods, schools, colleges, and the health system and it will benefit all.  There should be support for families in poor Neighborhood which can reduce crime. To put more funds into community policing and police training will not eliminate the root of the high crime that still existed in African American communities. The target of the police is African America because police still monitoring those communities, which leave the more arrest in African American communities. More research’s, more programs and more resources should be the solution to end century of inequity in the African American communities.  

Tania Caldwell  

URB200  

Dr. Aptekar  

                                          

In the article “The Inside Story of How Berlin of How Berlin Took on Corporate Landlord and Won,” Ruby Lott- Lavigna explains how the community fought for the right to affordable housing.  According to Lott-Lavigna, Berlin evolved being a city with affordable housing for young people to expensive housing. Organizers and leaders got together and started to fight with the city to take the right to affordable housing. Lott-Lavigna emphasized that corporations and the city-run? have many places to rent, which motivated those organized to fight for a new reform that property owners and tenants should provide affordable housing. The case of Berlin demonstrated that the people could run housing to socialize rent. The people’s fight won and demonstrated that rent could be socialized and be in the power of the people.   

The “What is Zoning” report shows how the city zoning is running by law of how the building could be, what is allowed in the area, and what level a building could be. The report showed how the urban areas have their law of where they can be built and how they can build for decades. In the case of affordable housing, rezoning could be considered and good strategies to build more affordable housing and pass those housing from generation to generation. Urban planners could build more affordable housing and reshape those buildings, something that, according to the report, could not be accepted by the urban developer (The Center for Urban Pedagogy, 2013).  

New York residents could find more affordable housing if urban developers included more affordable housing in their projects. As it shows in Berlin, housing could be more socialized if communities had more power to decide public housing. In New York, the zone laws should be passed by organizations that, with the help of communities, could be the planner for professionals who contribute to the fight for social housing. 

                                                   

  REFERENCES  

Ruby Lott-Lavigna. 2021. “The Inside Story of How

Took On Corporate Landlords and Won.” Vice.September 21, 2021. 

The Center for Urban Pedagogy. 2013. What Is Zoning? Envisioning Development. Guide no. 2.