For decades, Bensonhurst was a center of Italian life. However, as time passed by, many of the local Italians began moving to other areas of New York like Long Island and Staten Island. With this mass movement of people, Bensonhurst was left with cheap, inexpensive housing that many immigrants took advantage of. Bensonhurst has other advantages, however. Including housing, Bensonhurst has a convenient location; an express subway line and several bus routes allow for cheap transportation. Hispanic immigrants can travel to and from their jobs and homes without having to worry about maintaining a vehicle. Cheap housing and easy transportation allow for many to focus on saving money to send back to their families. The majority of Latino immigrants in Brooklyn are men who came to the United States in the hope of finding jobs allowing them to send money home to their families.
You can see a visual presentation of the change in the Latino population here:
