Gentrification

The Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), formulated to provide a resolution to the disastrous situation public housing faces, “was created in order to give public housing authorities (such as NYCHA) a powerful tool to preserve and improve public housing properties and address the $26 billion dollar nationwide backlog of deferred maintenance”(HUD.gov). RAD “is set to transfer 60,000 public housing units across the country to the control of private developers” (prospect.org). This privatization of public housing into private development can allow investor’s money (on incentive through tax credits) to cut into the estimated $26 billion price tag for reparations due to deferred maintenance by the federal government. NYC.gov states that “RAD enables public housing authorities to create public-private partnerships, not privatize. Federal funding will still support the operations and maintenance of apartments, but the funding source will shift from the Public Housing Program to a special Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program” (NYC.gov 2017 fact sheet).

While RAD seems to be a very efficient and logical solution to the housing crisis, critics are concerned that there will be a great displacement of tenants in the process. As the remodeling and rebuilding process occurs, tenants will be forced to move out of their current homes in search of a new dwelling space. Additionally, according to Anne Marie Smetek, of Washington College of Law at American University, the transfer of power into the hands of private developers is worrisome as Smetek “contemplates the implications of ‘exposing housing developments to the unpredictability of the financial market’ so close on the heels of the national foreclosure crisis.” (Nextcity.org) Even though housing needs these investments in order to actually keep these projects up and running, putting public housing into the hands of privatization also puts the new and improved projects into the dangers of foreclosure. In order to fully implement RAD, certain political guarantees for the safety of the residents have to be set in motion, protecting the residents no matter what happens to the investors.

In the event that RAD investments actually do succeed and the housing complex’s are revamped with the intention of keeping low-income families within their hallways, the new and improved areas are still sure to attract the likes of the middle-class. Slowly but surely, other investors will build their own condominiums to match the soaring projects across the streets. The middle and upper class will begin to integrate themselves within the communities, bringing the developed areas along for the dangerous ride of Gentrification.

Some insight into the concept of gentrification:

Gentrification is defined by Oxford Dictionary as “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste.” As gentrification slowly takes hold of struggling areas in NYC, many low-income people are pushed out of their homes as “rents in predominantly black neighborhoods are rising at a faster clip than in wealthier areas, putting added pressure on young people whose parents may not be able to help their offspring pay the rent or guarantee a lease” (NYTimes). While gentrification has the ability to “improve” a district’s housing conditions and safety, it comes at an expensive cost for residents in the area. For NYCHA residents especially, the effects of gentrification could be disastrous in certain instances.

In 2015, New York City hired five NYCHA residents to work as urban “interpreters” who gathered information for a report on the effects of gentrification. The report reads that “NYCHA residents could be priced out of new private amenities and new, higher-income neighbors may not contribute to accessible community resources” (Daily News). As the middle class moves into the area, expensive stores, supermarkets and other businesses come with them, bringing the purchasing power of the previous low-income families and NYCHA residents to a state of almost non-existence. Subsequently, small businesses in the area are forced to close their doors as big corporate brands replace them with ease. As rent prices grow, small businesses can’t survive. Not only do people lose their dwelling place, businesses lose their homes as well when the “mom & pop” neighborhood bookstore or coffee shop is replaced by franchises that serve the “middle-class taste”. In an interview from The New York Times article “Priced Out of a Childhood Home,” Mr. Ghareb of the Lower East Side explained that prices were so high in the area that he can’t even afford the new ice cream sold in his neighborhood. He feels that “if you live somewhere and you can’t visit the local ice cream shop regularly without it hurting your bank account, you don’t belong there anymore”(NYTimes).

This phenomena could be seen throughout most of NYC, as Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx who chairs the public housing committee) states “gentrification offers a lavish living to a privileged few while leaving NYCHA residents behind with nothing more than a remnant of their former purchasing power”(Daily News). The idea that residents will now be under the control of private developers also brings them to the control of their mentality and their culture. In Williamsburg for example, “many say they are discontent with what the neighborhood has become. “I used to go shopping on Graham Avenue, but now there are absolutely no stores because everything is a bar” says Lavonne McLamb. (Nextcity.org)

Developers will have incentive to revamp/remodel not only the complex in the area but to also ensure stability in the area. As mentioned before, in order to do so many other factors will come into play.

More must be done to connect NYCHA residents to opportunity

Currently, “NYCHA residents do not feel they are benefitting economically from the neighborhood’s increasing development, and are very concerned about affordability.” In a research study by a CEO-commissioned team and the two CUNY authors, their findings show that “there are no mechanisms to help mom-and-pop establishments where NYCHA residents used to shop and services they use (like laundromats) stay in business, and few jobs at the new retail establishments seem to materialize for NYCHA residents” (Nextcity.org).

Gentrification has the tendency to slowly push the poor out of the area, something that will be disastrous to the NYCHA residents. Due to middle class culture slowly engulfing the area around the project in question, residents will be living in a new and improved complex that is beautiful and under controlled rent prices but might not be able to afford groceries from any of the stores in a ten block radius. The power of gentrification is very real and for some, has the ability to be very devastating.

Where will people move to during the times of RAD remodeling?

In analysis of 2014 HUD data, “researchers used statistical models to estimate that 9.5 million households would be on waiting lists for housing vouchers if there were no caps — more than three times the official total” (Huffington Post).

• “The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority hasn’t opened its public assistance waiting lists since 2008. When Houston’s Housing Authority opened its waiting list in 2006, there were 29,000 applicants. The next time the list was opened last summer, it attracted 83,000 applicants for housing vouchers” (ABC news).
• “The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher waiting list is currently closed. It was last open in May 2007” (affordablehousingonline.com).
• As of March 6, 2017, 257,143 families are on the waiting list for public housing, 146,808 families are on the waiting list for Section 8 housing and 15,096 applicants are on both waiting lists for NYCHA Housing. (NYC.gov 2017 Fact Sheet)

 

The aforementioned facts prove that Housing authorities across the country are struggling to provide homes to the millions of people in need of affordable housing. Therefore, during the process of remodeling and restructuring certain locations, it is not clear where the people currently living there would go. The idea that RAD can displace even more of those people throughout the duration of remodeling can then shift the pressure of care for these people from the Public Housing authorities to the homeless shelter authority. In essence, this may cause an even bigger dents to our government sanctioned programs than that which we have right now.

On a “myth buster” fact sheet released by NYC.gov, NYCHA states the following:

“NYCHA is utilizing the RAD program to keep residents in their homes. All residents at affected developments automatically qualify for the RAD program— they are ‘grandfathered’ in—and there is no tenant rescreening as part of the transition process. RAD will help residents by enabling buildings and apartments to receive upgrades and major repairs to prevent conditions from further deteriorating. Currently, NYCHA estimates the 24 buildings and nearly 1,400 apartments at Ocean Bay Apartments (Bayside) need about $174 million in major improvements over the next 20 years, such as kitchen and bathroom modernizations, roof replacements, boiler replacements and safety upgrades. While apartment modernizations and rehabilitations may require the residents to temporarily relocate during the course of repairs, every resident is ensured the right to return and no resident will be asked to permanently relocate.”***

***It is very important to pay attention to the last sentence mentioned above in bold. The answer still stands very strongly and must be answered before implementation. Where will the residents go?