It arrives via cranes and coffee shops, spiking rents, and rising property values, often altering communities beyond recognition.
Gentrification is marked by an 鈥渋nflux of investments and affluent people to low-income neighborhoods鈥 that 鈥渃an lead to physical and cultural displacement of long-term residents,鈥 most often people of color, according to the School of Public Affairs鈥 Metropolitan Policy Center (MPC). A highly visible form of urban inequality, gentrification is changing the landscape鈥攕eemingly by the day鈥攊n Eckington, Navy Yard, Shaw, and other parts of DC where rents jumped by more than 55 percent in the 2010s.
Washington was the nation鈥檚 most intensely gentrified city between 2000 and 2013, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). Of 154 neighborhoods 鈥渆ligible to gentrify鈥濃攖hose with median home values and household incomes below the 40th percentile鈥62 did based on increases in property values and college degree attainment. Although DC dropped to 13th in a follow-up study, NCRC notes that the city still has 鈥渁 high intensity of gentrification.鈥澨
As the phenomenon鈥攆irst identified by a British sociologist in the 1960s鈥攖akes root, people are set adrift. More than 20,000 Black residents were displaced from DC鈥檚 gentrifying neighborhoods between 2000 and 2013, and the city鈥檚 Black population share has dropped from 61 percent in 2000 to less than 45 percent today. Displacement and lack of access to affordable housing, which Mayor Muriel Bowser, SPA/MPP 鈥00, is attempting to address through annual $100 million allocations to the Housing Production Trust Fund, are not the only dimensions of gentrification.
鈥淪ome people who stay in place don鈥檛 see the dog parks, upscale housing, and posh restaurants as being for them,鈥 says Derek Hyra, SPA professor, MPC founding director, and author of Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City. 鈥淭hey feel excluded from their own communities.鈥
AU changemakers research and represent Washingtonians grappling with the economic and cultural consequences of gentrification. Meet a few听of them here.
听
My scholarly work on the District鈥檚 go-go music and history recently evolved into my role as a cofounder of the Don鈥檛 Mute DC movement. I created a petition that more than 80,000 people from 94 countries signed to support the go-go artists and cultural entrepreneurs on the front lines of protecting Black culture and history in DC.
鈥Natalie Hopkinson, professor, School of Communication, and author, Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City
Addressing displacement requires keeping capital within DC. That means investing in and supporting local small businesses, directing capital and investments to longstanding DC residents, and incentivizing developers who are willing to invest in neighborhoods鈥攅specially those with low-income residents.
鈥擳ovah Bloomfield, SPA/MPP 鈥22, housing preservation specialist, Housing Counseling Services
In three DC neighborhoods, we saw that despite people鈥檚 interest in living in diverse communities, they didn鈥檛 appear to mix and mingle and get to know one another. We called this 鈥榝aux diversity,鈥 and it impacts people鈥檚 consumption opportunities, experiences, and outcomes in the neighborhood. A lot of older residents felt de-targeted鈥攚hich is a perception of exclusion by marketers鈥攁nd excluded from enjoying their own neighborhoods in the way they had in the past.
鈥擲onya Grier, professor, Kogod School of Business, and coauthor, 鈥淒og Parks and Coffee Shops: Faux Diversity and Consumption in Gentrifying Neighborhoods鈥
I work with our members and other affordable housing industry leaders to advocate for the creation and preservation of healthy, sustainable affordable homes that foster equity, opportunity, and resident well-being. Many mission-driven affordable housing organizations collaborate with residents to provide wide-ranging programming鈥攈ealth clinics, tutoring services, voter registration support, financial coaching, and more. By fostering services that start at home and are shaped by resident voices, housing can become a platform for success.鈥
鈥擬eena Nutbeam, CAS/BS 鈥18, MS 鈥19, program associate, resident outcomes and CORES, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future
Gentrification is a sonic process, and race is as sonic as it is visual. From noise legislation to the displacement of go-go music, gentrification silences some voices and amplifies others, drawing on long histories of criminalizing Black sound to create cities that are becoming more exclusionary by the day.
鈥擜llie Martin, CAS/BA 鈥13, ethnomusicology professor, Dartmouth College, and author, Intersectional Listening: Gentrification and Black Sonic Life in Washington, DC (forthcoming)
The greatest challenge related to gentrification, neighborhood change, and displacement, I believe, is the lack of political and public will to solve the problems paradigmatic to our housing market. Where there is public will there is often disagreement on how to proceed or a lack of understanding about the complicated processes that drive displacement, as gentrification and neighborhood change are not inherently bad and most neighborhoods want to evolve and prosper economically. Problems arise when these features of a thriving neighborhood exclude populations within the neighborhood, from the inception of the plan to bring about neighborhood change听to the resultant outcomes.
鈥擜ri Theresa, adjunct professor, College of Arts and Sciences, and civil rights attorney, Stoop Law
Development that uplifts low-income people in place without displacing them remains a big concern. [Urban policy experts] had hoped that reducing the concentration of poverty and stimulating investment in places that have traditionally been underserved would ultimately help long-term, low-income residents increase their life chances. We assumed that we would see these big education, employment, and health [improvements] if low-income people could stay in place and resources were brought into their communities. [But] we鈥檙e finding that the spillover effect is not as great as we thought.鈥
鈥擠erek Hyra, professor, School of Public Affairs; founding director, Metropolitan Policy Center; and author, Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City
The original goal of the [Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)] was to prevent displacement and ensure sufficient affordable housing for in situ renters. Unfortunately, TOPA has been largely co-opted by developers. Few tenants buy their units anymore, and even when tenants pick a new landlord, few stay put because developers offer them buyouts and then raise the rents.鈥
鈥擟arolyn Gallaher, senior associate dean, School of International Service, and author, The Politics of Staying Put: Condo Conversion and Tenant Right-to-Buy in Washington DC