D.C. has the highest ‘intensity’ of gentrification of any U.S. city, study says

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this happens all over the country as areas redevelop and become more desirable

it's really just a class thing

I wish there were more middle class and higher black folks coming back to DC vs PG county to make this less of a racial issue

We're here! Many of us in the upper 16th St. area. I'd say, however, that residents in that area are trending more UMC than true middle class. Most middle class folks I know, regardless of race, are buying in areas like close-in Silver Spring.

Agree with the article that there is a need for a lot more affordable housing across the city. I wish the NIMBYs would accept that changes in density are necessary so that the entire city doesn't eventually become a rich enclave.

But the density isn't offering affordable housing. Chopping up a row home into 4 individual levels and listing at $700k isn't "affordable".

PP here. I live in a neighborhood of 95% SFHs that go for upwards of 850K. There had been plans to put a large, mixed use apt. bldg on a major thoroughfare that is technically in our neighborhood, but a few neighbors fought tooth and nail against it, so that the developer eventually gave up after several years of planning. Yes, I like our leafy enclave in the city just as much as these folks, but we need to change zoning laws on main roads to allow for multi-family dwellings, so that middle and working class families can also live in the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this happens all over the country as areas redevelop and become more desirable

it's really just a class thing

I wish there were more middle class and higher black folks coming back to DC vs PG county to make this less of a racial issue

We're here! Many of us in the upper 16th St. area. I'd say, however, that residents in that area are trending more UMC than true middle class. Most middle class folks I know, regardless of race, are buying in areas like close-in Silver Spring.

Agree with the article that there is a need for a lot more affordable housing across the city. I wish the NIMBYs would accept that changes in density are necessary so that the entire city doesn't eventually become a rich enclave.

We are getting increased density in my neighborhood by the Potomac Ave metro as is appropriate but what worries me is that it seems as if so little of it is affordable housing. Oh, and you all will find this amusing: A huge project going up right across from the metro is called the Blackbird and its website boasts of "bohemian soul" meeting "button touch access" and it features quotes from Hunter S. Thompson and Biggie Smalls, pictures of Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, Muhammad Ali, and Aretha Franklin. So not only are they trying to make this place look hip (love my neighborhood but it's not Columbia Heights) but they are marketing it to people who consider themselves hip and want luxury at the same time.....eh, isn't that a bit of a contradiction? Here's the website: https://www.blackbirdsedc.com/ This is so weird.

PP. Ugh. I see what they're trying to do, but not sure I love this co-opting of cool and the city's African American history in the name of a gentrification project.

That is so stupid. At least they could use actually Washingtonians in their imagery... Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Brown, Henry Rollins, etc. Either way, it's super annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this happens all over the country as areas redevelop and become more desirable

it's really just a class thing

I wish there were more middle class and higher black folks coming back to DC vs PG county to make this less of a racial issue

We're here! Many of us in the upper 16th St. area. I'd say, however, that residents in that area are trending more UMC than true middle class. Most middle class folks I know, regardless of race, are buying in areas like close-in Silver Spring.

Agree with the article that there is a need for a lot more affordable housing across the city. I wish the NIMBYs would accept that changes in density are necessary so that the entire city doesn't eventually become a rich enclave.

We are getting increased density in my neighborhood by the Potomac Ave metro as is appropriate but what worries me is that it seems as if so little of it is affordable housing. Oh, and you all will find this amusing: A huge project going up right across from the metro is called the Blackbird and its website boasts of "bohemian soul" meeting "button touch access" and it features quotes from Hunter S. Thompson and Biggie Smalls, pictures of Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, Muhammad Ali, and Aretha Franklin. So not only are they trying to make this place look hip (love my neighborhood but it's not Columbia Heights) but they are marketing it to people who consider themselves hip and want luxury at the same time.....eh, isn't that a bit of a contradiction? Here's the website: https://www.blackbirdsedc.com/ This is so weird.

PP. Ugh. I see what they're trying to do, but not sure I love this co-opting of cool and the city's African American history in the name of a gentrification project.

That is so stupid. At least they could use actually Washingtonians in their imagery... Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Brown, Henry Rollins, etc. Either way, it's super annoying.

PP again, and yes, I noticed that too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where did all the African Americans go? I keep wondering this.

Are they going to PGC? Where are they going?

One thing that bugs me a lot about articles about gentrification is when they talk about residents being forced out or displaced and are missing some simple demographics...people are not immortal. When I moved to Petworth the vast majority of my neighbors were African Americans who owned their homes and were elderly. A lot of them had owned their homes solince the 1960s or 70s. Many of those neighbors have since passed away, and some have moved into nursing homes or in with their kids. The gentrification is happening here mainly because of the aging of the neighborhood. Nearly all of these houses are gutted and flipped when they sell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this happens all over the country as areas redevelop and become more desirable

it's really just a class thing

I wish there were more middle class and higher black folks coming back to DC vs PG county to make this less of a racial issue

We're here! Many of us in the upper 16th St. area. I'd say, however, that residents in that area are trending more UMC than true middle class. Most middle class folks I know, regardless of race, are buying in areas like close-in Silver Spring.

Agree with the article that there is a need for a lot more affordable housing across the city. I wish the NIMBYs would accept that changes in density are necessary so that the entire city doesn't eventually become a rich enclave.

We are getting increased density in my neighborhood by the Potomac Ave metro as is appropriate but what worries me is that it seems as if so little of it is affordable housing. Oh, and you all will find this amusing: A huge project going up right across from the metro is called the Blackbird and its website boasts of "bohemian soul" meeting "button touch access" and it features quotes from Hunter S. Thompson and Biggie Smalls, pictures of Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, Muhammad Ali, and Aretha Franklin. So not only are they trying to make this place look hip (love my neighborhood but it's not Columbia Heights) but they are marketing it to people who consider themselves hip and want luxury at the same time.....eh, isn't that a bit of a contradiction? Here's the website: https://www.blackbirdsedc.com/ This is so weird.

PP. Ugh. I see what they're trying to do, but not sure I love this co-opting of cool and the city's African American history in the name of a gentrification project.

That is so stupid. At least they could use actually Washingtonians in their imagery... Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Brown, Henry Rollins, etc. Either way, it's super annoying.

PP again, and yes, I noticed that too!

“Capitol Hill living, someplace else feeling”???? If I’m buying on the Hill, why would I want to feel like I’m living someplace else?? WTF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where did all the African Americans go? I keep wondering this.

Are they going to PGC? Where are they going?

One thing that bugs me a lot about articles about gentrification is when they talk about residents being forced out or displaced and are missing some simple demographics...people are not immortal. When I moved to Petworth the vast majority of my neighbors were African Americans who owned their homes and were elderly. A lot of them had owned their homes solince the 1960s or 70s. Many of those neighbors have since passed away, and some have moved into nursing homes or in with their kids. The gentrification is happening here mainly because of the aging of the neighborhood. Nearly all of these houses are gutted and flipped when they sell.

+1. I used to live in Philly in a neighborhood that gentrified significantly, and this was basically what happened. People kids had already moved out to suburbs or other neighborhoods when they got married and had kids, and when the elderly parents passed away, the grown kids sold the house for $$$.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the folks who say that we have to build more/denser housing supply in the form of large buildings, but I think that we also need to find ways to build more housing that's similar in character to rowhouses/small multifamily. Not townhomes that are still in car-dependent separated developments (what's built now), but actual walkable and transit-oriented mixed use urbanism. The problem is that zoning makes it almost impossible to increase density in a lot of suburbs or in more suburban neighborhoods, and there's no land to build anymore of this kind of housing in already-urban neighborhoods. So a lot of lower-income folks, many of whom don't have cars or can't afford them, are displaced into neighborhoods that are built around cars in a way that systematically reduces their access to social services, social networks, etc.

Apartment/large building living is a very poor substitute for even attached home living for a lot of people. Clearly more people will need to choose to live in large buildings in the future if we want to keep close-in areas affordable. Not everyone will be able to afford to live in as close proximity to downtown as they might prefer. But even setting aside the loss of proximity associated with displacement by gentrification, there is a real loss of lifestyle associated with with being displaced from classic rowhouse neighborhoods. Meanwhile, the supply of that kind of housing is actually declining pretty rapidly, leading attached house prices to rapidly outpace inflation with little end in sight. It's not hard to understand why even people who don't appear to be financially harmed by gentrification might be unhappy about that loss of lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

One way of looking at it is that many middle and lower middle class AAs who owned their houses for decades have made out like a bandit due to the gentrification. Or their children and grandchildren have. So there's generational real estate wealth for AAs being generated due to gentrification.

The irony is that DC used to be a heavily white town. In 1950 it was 64% white and before the war more than 70% white. Who knows, it may return to that again! AAs are no longer the majority, they represented as high as 70% of the population in 1980 but now around 47%. As the old saying goes, what goes around comes around.

[Anonymous]

A lot of AAs haven’t made out like a bandit, their opportunity for generational wealth via real estate was actually ripped from them. Plenty of forclosures and developer low balls are responsible for the houses transferring ownership. I know of a few cases some years back of elderly people losing their home for not being able to pay their rising property taxes on time because of a limited income. The paper actually did a story on a widow who lost his house due to a tax balance less than $2 in a hot neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this happens all over the country as areas redevelop and become more desirable

it's really just a class thing

I wish there were more middle class and higher black folks coming back to DC vs PG county to make this less of a racial issue

We are a middle class (250k HHI) black family and would love to come to DC from our hot nova neighborhood. The areas we think are most similar to where we live now are way too expensive in DC.

It still comes down to racial wealth inequality. Its also ingrained in the housing system, down to racist lending practices and house appreciation rates still happening today. I truly hate it all, but have no way to escape it.

You if you are looking for an expensive neighborhood like your hot NOVA neighborhood, you aren't going to be gentrifying.

[Anonymous]

Come to South Arlington. Your HHI will get you a nice house. No gentrifying here because of zoning and a very pro-affordable housing board. We have blocks and blocks of committed affordable housing (not that you will qualify) and lower income market rate affordable apartments. And much more on the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of AAs haven’t made out like a bandit, their opportunity for generational wealth via real estate was actually ripped from them. Plenty of forclosures and developer low balls are responsible for the houses transferring ownership. I know of a few cases some years back of elderly people losing their home for not being able to pay their rising property taxes on time because of a limited income. The paper actually did a story on a widow who lost his house due to a tax balance less than $2 in a hot neighborhood.

How many of these versus the ones who did make a lot of money selling grandma's old house? Hmm? A few cases of people who didn't make money doesn't mean anything. Look, millions of whites lost houses to foreclosure too, or live in dying mill towns or Appalachia where their house is worth peanuts and people ignore those when talking about generational wealth via real estate. Right now in DC there's a big shift of black homeowners selling to white homeowners either themselves or via flippers and most are walking away with plenty of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the folks who say that we have to build more/denser housing supply in the form of large buildings, but I think that we also need to find ways to build more housing that's similar in character to rowhouses/small multifamily. Not townhomes that are still in car-dependent separated developments (what's built now), but actual walkable and transit-oriented mixed use urbanism. The problem is that zoning makes it almost impossible to increase density in a lot of suburbs or in more suburban neighborhoods, and there's no land to build anymore of this kind of housing in already-urban neighborhoods. So a lot of lower-income folks, many of whom don't have cars or can't afford them, are displaced into neighborhoods that are built around cars in a way that systematically reduces their access to social services, social networks, etc.

Apartment/large building living is a very poor substitute for even attached home living for a lot of people. Clearly more people will need to choose to live in large buildings in the future if we want to keep close-in areas affordable. Not everyone will be able to afford to live in as close proximity to downtown as they might prefer. But even setting aside the loss of proximity associated with displacement by gentrification, there is a real loss of lifestyle associated with with being displaced from classic rowhouse neighborhoods. Meanwhile, the supply of that kind of housing is actually declining pretty rapidly, leading attached house prices to rapidly outpace inflation with little end in sight. It's not hard to understand why even people who don't appear to be financially harmed by gentrification might be unhappy about that loss of lifestyle.

Correct. We need both denser housing around transit, and denser housing in current single-family more suburban areas.
We also need denser housing in row home areas.
Steps we should take:
- Make it easier to build high around metro stops. We’re actually doing ok at this in some areas of DC. But in too many cases local opposition blocks construction or reduces height.
- Upzone single family suburban areas to build more densely
- upzone row house areas to allow pop ups or replacing two story row houses with 4 story row houses.

Answer is really: build more housing everywhere. More more more. Upzone everywhere. There is a huge supply crunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I know of a few cases some years back of elderly people losing their home for not being able to pay their rising property taxes on time because of a limited income. The paper actually did a story on a widow who lost his house due to a tax balance less than $2 in a hot neighborhood.

So in this case where the government has done a terrible thing, who should we bring in to fix the problem.... oh yeah the government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of AAs haven’t made out like a bandit, their opportunity for generational wealth via real estate was actually ripped from them. Plenty of forclosures and developer low balls are responsible for the houses transferring ownership. I know of a few cases some years back of elderly people losing their home for not being able to pay their rising property taxes on time because of a limited income. The paper actually did a story on a widow who lost his house due to a tax balance less than $2 in a hot neighborhood.

I think this is closer to the truth, and I've seen this happen in different places including Falls Church to poor seniors of all colors.