Where are we going to go?
Gentrification has been on my mind recently. I live in Brooklyn, and at its roots, it is very segregated. Central Brooklyn is predominantly Black Caribbean, the next area further north is predominantly African-American, the area above that is heavily Latino. And in comparison South Brooklyn is largely white. Now the demographics have changed in the historically Black and Latino neighborhoods. Gentrification has been and is rampant in Brooklyn, often because Manhattan is very expensive. A lot of these communities, including the one I live in, are well-connected to Manhattan by public transport, making commuting very easy, and a cheaper alternative for “wealthy” people who can’t really afford to live in Manhattan but Brooklyn is in their price range.
Since Manhattan has become more expensive and costs will continue to rise, it’s like a bubble effect. The areas along the water are overpriced, since you can see Manhattan from your door. The bubble gets larger and larger, and now people are paying hand over fist to live in my neighborhood which is 35 minutes on the train from Times Square. Since these people that are moving in have money, the demand is high in areas such as mine, which raises the price of rent and housing. Unfortunately what it boils down to is that the longstanding Black and Brown people, working class folk, that live in my neighborhood either cannot afford the rent increases, or, if they own their home, may be tempted to sell their home for hundreds of a percentage increase in profit and move to someplace cheaper. New developments are being built left and right, and the rent prices are not affordable relative to the average income in the area (which is slightly more than the city average).
The question that comes to my mind is when will it stop? People are moving into the outer reaches of Brooklyn where it takes 90 minutes to 2 hours to get into Midtown and are paying ridiculous rents to live so far away because it’s so expensive to live closer. Where are the working class people going to go? Soon these outer reaches of Brooklyn are going to become very expensive, and people will move out into Queens and the Rockaways, which will become more expensive, and then people will move out to Nassau and Suffolk County which will then become even more expensive. These places are “cheap” currently and will only get more expensive.
An interesting trend that was seen in Black communities in Central Brooklyn, was the exodus to eastern Pennsylvania. Many people traded their small apartments in Brooklyn for a new construction home. I remember taking the train to school, skimming through the metro newspaper, and seeing the advertisement for new construction homes in the Poconos, only 90 minutes from the George Washington Bridge. Those sizeable new builds were going for less than $200,000, which for anyone in the New York Metro Area would be a steal. Is this what the future holds? Working class people getting on a bus for 2 hours a day so they can have a decent place to live? This city does little to nothing to support its working class , those who make too much for assistance but don’t earn enough to live comfortably.
Where are we going to go?