The Gentrification and Displacement of Folks in Bushwick is an Epidemic Spurred by Big Real Estate and their Capitalization of the Arts

How does gentrification work? Gentrification is a pattern of displacement of poor black and brown communities followed by their replacement with wealthier communities. Sound familiar? “Redevelopment,” that is part of gentrification, means creating spaces that are inaccessible to previous residents in the neighborhood. Organizations, like Nooklyn, work with landlords to reshape and replace neighborhoods.  A neighborhood is more than its buildings, it’s a community – let’s protect ours!

Below are some of the consequences of gentrification in Bushwick. According to data collected by the New York City Council, evictions in Bushwick zip codes since 2017 are in the hundreds and parts of the neighborhood are deemed eviction “hot spots”:^[1]

11221: 529 evictions since 2017, 11237: 163 evictions since 2017, 11206: 280 evictions since 2017, 11207: 940 evictions since 2017. These stats only include “legal” evictions.

What causes evictions? CSSNY notes that there are “three predictors for high eviction rates: high rates of severe rent burdens; a high share of black tenants; and a high share of Latinx tenants.”^[2] Bushwick matches/matched this criteria.

What do we mean by inaccessible and “severe rent burdens”? “From 2010 to 2017, New York City rents increased at a rate that was twice as fast as salary or wage increases. In terms of severe rent burdens, analysis from CSS found that roughly 28 percent of residents in Bushwick pay more than half of their wages toward rent.”^[3] This mean the most vulnerable of our neighbors are being priced out.

Who in Bushwick was/is displaced by gentrification? According to stats by Center for Urban Research, in 2010, Bushwick was Brooklyn’s largest latinx neighborhood.^[4] This is not to say all displaced folks, in Bushwick are latinx, but many, if not most, are.

How much have the demographics changed? A study by NYU Freeman Center highlights that, in Bushwick, “from 2000 to 2016, the percentage of residents who identify as black or Hispanic both decreased while the residents who identify as white and Asian increased. The black population decreased by 5.1%, the Hispanic population fell by 7.3%, the Asian population rose by 2% and the white population increased by 11.7%.”^[5] 

Who is facilitating this displacement? Nooklyn is one of the major perpetrators and their CEO doesn’t hide it. How does Nooklyn’s CEO, Harley Courts, see his job? “I really look at my job as demolition — like, literally removing all obstacles for everyone to walk through. I do all the jobs no one else wants to do, like dealing with a renter in a tricky situation.”^[6] It is our community that he helps demolish! Therefore, NOOKLYN IS TRASH & IS CAPITALIZING OFF THE DISPLACEMENT OF OUR FAMILIES!

Who else contributes to this? In a NYT article, Boaz Gilad, a developer with Brookland Capital smugly stated: “One of the challenges, and also the opportunity, of Bushwick for developers is it’s not a typical pretty Brooklyn brownstone neighborhood … it gives us a blank canvas to create whatever we want.”^[7] They are making our not so “pretty” neighborhood their big capital playground at a high human cost.

How else does gentrification work on the ground? It is systemic at all levels. In  Bushwick, “from 2000 to 2016, average home values… jumped from $273,563 to $576,572, an increase of more than 100 percent.”^[8] Higher values means higher taxes and higher rent! New zoning laws will also impact this.

But didn’t gentrification “recover” Bushwick from poverty and crime? In 2008, even conservative scholars, such as Steve Malanga noted Bushwick’s pre-gentrified “recovery”: “Murders dropped from 1990’s 77 to 12 in 1998. Total violent crime in the area fell 66 percent over the same period. By 1998, Bushwick saw 1,500 fewer annual robberies, 1,000 fewer burglaries, and 675 fewer assaults than it had eight years earlier… The number of Bushwick residents on welfare dropped from 37,000 in 1994 to about 17,000 in 2000 to under 12,000 today (2008).”^[9] That’s not to argue that Bushwick was perfect, but to credit the “recovery” of Bushwick to gentrification is historically inaccurate.  

Is art to blame for gentrification then? Bushwick meets the conditions where art is a factor in gentrification. As a recent study notes: “regions without highly concentrated arts activity are more likely to experience gentrification through the arts in those few places with highly concentrated arts industries.”^[10] So how much has the art scene affected the neighborhood? According to a survey by the Center for the Urban Future” Bushwick has seen a 1,116 percent increase in its artist population—the biggest increase in any New York City neighborhood…There are now about 60 galleries in the area.”^[11] 

We do not stand against individual artists. However, we do stand against the effects of “art washing,” a symptom of gentrification, that has negatively impacted our neighborhood. Real estate companies are using art to displace folks. As Associate Professor Thuy Linh Tu points out: “Largely low-income, largely ethnic neighborhoods get taken over by white creative types. Gentrification is really about bringing in new capital into spaces, and it often leads to the displacement of people, particularly poor people of color.”^[12] Don’t let this continue in Bushwick. ¡Ya tu sabe!  

More info: @micasaresiste