Sgregation et gentrification à new york

Hello, today we are going to talk about gentrification and segregation in New york. First, gentrification is the process by which a place, especially part of a city, changes from being a poor area to a richer one, where people from a higher social class live. It happens when wealthier residents move into an urban area, which is why the rent increases and the cost of everything in the district too. Racial segregation is the separation, either by law or by action, of people of different races. Actually, we’ll see that those two phenomenons are linked, and that they take place together. Today, the process of globalization leads to a redistribution of the population in New York's urban place: several districts have known problems of impoverishment. On the opposite, popular districts gentrify due to the arrival of younger population, qualified and relatively wealthy. Globalization, by concentrating richness and powers in certain spaces and pushing “the rest” toward the peripheries, increase inequalities and racial segregation.  What are the dynamics of gentrification and segregation in New York ? First, we’ll talk about gentrification in New York,  how this is a problem and the consequences. Then we’ll see that New York is victim of racial segregation. And to finish we’ll see that those two phenomena are linked.

First, In 1969 local powers established laws to protect rents in order that they don’t increase. These laws permitted a lot of people to buy a house in New York. Indeed, this has not stopped the market's dynamism to threaten the balance. In fact, wealthy classes started to arrive in several districts in New York, attracted by the low rents and the good looking houses.

 This is when gentrification started to take place. Typically with gentrification, crime rates are lower, which attracts wealthier people. This starts with the rent increase: Tenants realize that they can raise the price of rents to gain more money. What happens is that rents get so high that it becomes impossible for residents to keep living in their house. Because of that, residents have to leave their homes and try to find another affordable area, but many areas are facing the same problem. Long standing residents, who were there before all of that happened, have been little by little forced to leave. Actually, 12 percent of low-income neighborhoods are experiencing ongoing or advanced gentrification in New York – while almost 9% are experiencing displacement without gentrification. That means that areas of NYC that are supposed to be reserved for people of low-income are already on their way to become gentrified.  Many residents dealing with displacement can even become homeless. A recent study states that the U.S. city with the highest amount of homeless people is NYC. Basically, people who aren’t rich enough can’t afford to live there any longer because new buildings are asking for very high rents.

We can see that gentrification has consequences on old tenants. For the original inhabitants, gentrification can involve many difficulties: constant work, pressure from landlords wanting to see them move in order to increase rents, feeling of isolation face to the change of atmosphere and new culture by the newcomers, impoverishment due to the increase in the housing budget and the cost of living. And, with the relocation of their neighbors, but also of essential local public services and institutions such as churches or neighborhood houses, the whole social fabric capable of providing them support and comfort is crumbling. So many realities with very harmful consequences for the physiological balance. For example, in Brooklyn, landlords refuse to guarantee a man hot water and heating. Their strategy is  to wear tenants down by letting their homes fall apart. Some people manage to stay but they have to face these difficult conditions. Landlords even propose money in order for them to leave. Most of the time, when they do leave, they don’t even give them the money they promised.

Then, gentrification, beyond the fact that people have to leave their houses, also affects people's health. In fact, it is very difficult for them to treat themselves when it’s already difficult to support their needs. On the other hand, wealthy people don’t see any problem. They are even proud that their houses are gaining value. For example, buying a house at 150 000 can be resealed at 2 million€. Actually, those gentrified places were places where people didn’t even want to step foot in because of the insecurity, but now, it has become just a hang-out spot. Tons of new big-windowed buildings with modern finishes are showing up. New cafes and expensive trendy clothing stores appear more and more as the years go on.

There is a town that became a symbol of this phenomena : Brooklyn, and most particularly, the district of williamsburg. Williamsburg is a remarkable case because all of its development has taken place between the 1990s and today. At first, a few art students, only a handful of galleries, took over the place. And now, cafes and restaurants have opened. We can also say that the media talked about it, which made  their role structural in amplifying the phenomenon of gentrification. And as Williamsburg has kept industrial spaces, companies have also gone there, even taking "Brooklyn" as a trade name, for example of Brooklyn Industries or Brooklyn Brewery.

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