Christian Butron – Charlotte Gardens

Charlotte Gardens, South Bronx caught my attention because it differs from the stereotypical look of affordable housing. While most affordable housing attempts to house as many people for as little cost as possible, the focus of Charlotte Gardens seems to be to provide an aesthetically-pleasing, spacious neighborhood that provides a healthy environment for those with lower-income. This look completely differs from what South Bronx was back in the 1970s when it was literally burning. South Bronx used to be the typical affordable housing neighborhood: large buildings with a large amount of residents. It was once dominated by Italian, Irish, and Jewish immigrants who mostly worked in factories. However, the combination of economic decline, the outflow of newly-middle class residents, the inflow of impoverished residents, and systemic neglect by landlords caused the neighborhood to decay. In the Washington Monthly article “Guess Who Saved the South Bronx?”, Robert Worth points to the government as one of the biggest catalysts for the decay of the South Bronx with its policy of rent control which made running apartment complexes in the area unprofitable for private landlords, meaning they also did not have the funds to maintain basic services and the quality of their buildings. The final nail in the coffin was what caused the South Bronx to literally start burning to the ground. As housing prices in the area fell and the maintenance of housing in the area remained unprofitable, landlords began burning down their own buildings in an attempt to salvage whatever money they could get from insurance payouts. Also, the government offered tenants grants if they were burned out of their homes. As a result, residents themselves began burning the buildings down. Many other events would plague the neighborhood, but the end result was the complete destruction of what once was a thriving community.

The current South Bronx seems to be the exact opposite of what South Bronx was, even before it began falling apart. What were once large high-density apartment complexes are now single-family ranch-style houses. What were once manufacturing plants are now stores. The goal of these changes are to encourage residents to care of their own neighborhood as the higher quality of the units and the more opportunities means each resident has a bigger stake in the community. These changes suggest that we need to employ new techniques to revive the broken down neighborhoods of New York City as what once worked in the past may not work in the future. Unfortunately, Charlotte Gardens does little to address the rapidly growing demand for cheaper housing, which is what the ordinary model of affordable housing aims to accomplish. If this strategy is replicated for other neighborhoods, it seems that in the future most of the people that need affordable housing the most will be forced out. Also, current issues like high inequality and the fall of both economic opportunities and real wages still impacts the neighborhood as half of the residents are still low-income. As such, it seems that the real permanent solution to the housing crisis could only be an economic one.