Local Writes Brownstoner About Gentrification in Bushwick: High Rents Forcing Out Families
A Brownstoner reader and longtime resident of Bushwick sent Brownstoner her thoughts about recent changes and gentrification in Bushwick: “Just a quick email to see if you can help me understand what exactly is occurring in Bushwick. I have lived in Bushwick for what seems like forever and seen the changes that have happened here….
A Brownstoner reader and longtime resident of Bushwick sent Brownstoner her thoughts about recent changes and gentrification in Bushwick:
“Just a quick email to see if you can help me understand what exactly is occurring in Bushwick. I have lived in Bushwick for what seems like forever and seen the changes that have happened here.
Yes I must agree some things are in the best interest of all who reside in this area but then again many of our longtime residents are forced to leave. Why you ask — well the rents are increasing rapidly and it is very difficult for the families to pay this.
All of the brand new apartments that are being constructed are for people with money; Bushwick was the place to go when rent was expensive in Queens, now you can’t even afford an apartment in Bushwick. Why I ask is this happening — new faces at every turn, coffee shops on almost every corner, the local bodega is no longer there as the rent has increased and they lost their lease.
It is as though we, the ones who lived here forever, born and raised, are now having to leave our beloved boro because Gentrification is in full effect and we are left on the bottom of the barrel.
My Brooklyn isn’t the Brooklyn because another townhouse just hit the market with an asking price of $40 million dollars, it is as though we the ones who lived in Bushwick where everyone knew everyone and looked out for them in the only way we knew how are gone. Everything is priced to the max and we cannot afford it anymore.
How can a middle class family afford a rent of $2,000 or even $2,500 when the family consists of three children and a single working parent, when bills need to be paid and food on the table. I find this totally out of control — no one ever wanted to live in Bushwick and now all of a sudden it’s hip to live in Brooklyn, but it is as though the yuppies, yes i said it, are taking over our beloved Brooklyn and we the ones who lived here forever are being pushed out completely because we cannot afford to live here anymore.
At the end of the day we feel as though we are being displaced and no longer have a say. Again I ask where are we going to go when we no longer can afford our rent???”
also, i have to add i have a hard time recognizing why having to leave one’s home in which they were born and raised is somehow unacceptable. to me it’s just a fact of life. i was raised by immigrants and we always moved around to different cities–in fact, new york is now the one place i’ve lived the longest, and i chose to come here as an adult. for a long time i was afraid of getting priced out–but i made it my priority to buy something (anything!) because to me renting is just asking to get kicked out. and it means if i ever want to leave i have SOMETHING to leverage. and it’s better than what rent nets you: NOTHING
i feel for this person, i really do. it’s hard to realize you’re in a pool of rapidly rising water that you might never be able to stay afloat in. …but what bothers me so much is that every time i see a rant like this, the blame is placed squarely on the shoulders of new residents–as if even the slightest amount of privilege over the original residents somehow makes it THEIR fault. in reality, it’s really the fault of the city and large developers, many of which are facilitated to an insane degree by the city. it’s difficult to have compassion for someone who refuses to have compassion for others. after all, bushwick was for a while there a place very poor artists would go because it was a place where one could rent space for cheap (space being a priority in the life of an artist). sure, they might have carried certain privileges with them–usually, if nothing else, an education of some sort–but they were by no means all white or all monied. that doesn’t make the truth any easier to swallow, but i find it hard to blame my problems on the fates of people who are, just like me, trying to get by with what they have. everyone in this city is just trying to make a living just like you–the only exception is large developers, who are usually trying to make as much of an obscene profit as they can off the rest of us.
If you’re referring to people that don’t own their homes and see rents rapidly rising around them then yes sadly they should consider leaving before a landlord kicks them out. That option at least gives them time versus some greedy landlord giving them a week to move out or risk being evicted. Is it sad and wrong? Yes but you tell me what the better option is.
I’m sure you must be new to New York city, if you think this is how it works. Anyone with rent stabilization is either harassed or bought out, and the process is ugly and drawn out on all sides. Anyone without rent stabilization has much longer than a week–and, perhaps since you just moved here and bought, (investor visa?) you may not know that finding an apartment can be almost as expensive a process as putting down an FHA loan. I’m guessing it was a single-family brownstone that you bought? I’m guessing you don’t actually know anything about rent stabilization, or rent control? Why would you? You’re living here for their death throes.
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Do you think you’re not a gentrifier because you’re not white? Or because you’re an artist? Because it’s amazing how many artist immigrants I’ve met in Brooklyn who think this same exact thing. It would be funny, if not so sad.
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I grew up in a gentrifying neighborhood. I’ve lived in several gentrifying neighborhoods. I’m not afraid to admit that. I’m a gentrifier. But I am also a realist who likes her neighbors and does not want them to move away. So here is my advice for you: get to know your non-German, non-artist neighbors. Send your children to your zoned school. Don’t assume a working class family in a rent stabilized apartment is cheating you. Your nanny is probably being cheated more–by you not paying her ssi, or her health insurance, or her taxes. Try not to move into a place and assume that everything has to be re-made to accommodate your taste. Frankly, your tastes are not that interesting, and they will just end in the proliferation of more stores like Bird… until we are all finally secretly relieved when they are priced out and replaced by Subway and Bank of America.
The assumptions you make just by reading someone’s post are quite surprising and I’m beginning to wonder if you have any reading comprehension skills at all.
1) I’m not new to NY and I do understand the cost of moving but since you seem to know so much about both NYC and moving, please tell me what YOUR solution is to the families that are living in Bushwick and for the past several years have witnessed rents go up and their neighbors moving out?
To further answer your question, no I did not buy a single family brownstone, I bought a two family to subsidize our housing expenses. You really seem to be out to attack people huh and prove how “wealthy” they are and how little they know of others struggles?
2) I never said I didn’t think I was a gentrifier. What I did say is that I find it offensive when others say trust fund babies, “rich people”, “white people”, etc are moving to places like Bushwick and Bed Stuy and want to rid the community of any diversity and don’t want to interact with residents that have been there for years. People that are buying homes; whether single family or not are not moving into neighborhoods to push people out and only associate with their own. I didn’t move to Bed Stuy to lock myself in my house until all my neighbors are white, or artists or come home with Bird or better yet, Steven Alan bags because if you really wanted to attack my “whiteness” you could have hit harder with that. You on the other hand are twisting my words to make what I’m saying into a bigger issue. I like where I live and apart from fact that I wish it was safer for EVERYONE, I have no desire to change the neighborhood so it accommodates my taste. Before giving me advice about which of my european, black, white, asian neighbors I should get to know, I suggest you take some reading comprehension courses after work. Before attacking someone who bought a house and assuming you know everything about them just because you have a sense of how much they paid for their home, maybe take up the cause and fight against developers which are the ones actually ruining the neighborhood and most likely renting apartments to people who could give less about building community, keeping the block clean or helping their elderly neighbor take out the trash.
What’s Steven Alan?
I’m wondering why someone in a rent stabilized apartment would move out just because the neighborhood is getting nicer around them. I own, and that’s a pretty dumb strategy to keep your housing costs low in a neighborhood you like. Sure, someone in an unregulated apartment might consider being ready to move — I got kicked out of my unregulated apartment in a two family house with about three months notice when my landlord’s daughter needed to move back in — but I’m not sure why I should have moved to a cheaper neighborhood (and less convenient) prior to losing the lease. And, my understanding is that eviction is a bitch of a process for landlords. They can’t just dump you on the street with a weeks notice, and least legally. That’s why landlords in unregulated buildings are usually pretty darn happy when they get a decent tenant who isn’t a PITA, pays the rent on time, and is quiet.
Apologies, my answer’s below. I guess I hit the wrong reply button, or disquis did its crazy thing.
A word of caution here read the actual document of the mayor’s “Affordable Housing Plan”. There is nothing in to actually create affordable housing. The entire document is devoted to easing constraints to developers. Making it easier, cheaper and faster for them to “develop” in developing neighborhoods. It is a big giveaway to developers. The “logic” is that if we let developers build bigger, faster and cheaper there will probably be some affordable apts in the mix. The Affordable Housing Plan is a Trojan Horse.
Really? Do you honestly think I’m saying people that own their homes should consider leaving once their neighborhood starts gentrifying? Come on..
If you’re referring to people that don’t own their homes and see rents rapidly rising around them then yes sadly they should consider leaving before a landlord kicks them out. That option at least gives them time versus some greedy landlord giving them a week to move out or risk being evicted. Is it sad and wrong? Yes but you tell me what the better option is.
And regarding me and my husband’s immigrant family, again read my post before saying anything is offensive. What is offensive are the people saying those that are moving in are trust fund babies, hoping to rid the community of any diversity. I mentioned that to illustrate that as a new resident I’m not trying to do either and my family is not your typical white gentrifier as many people quickly claim to point out about those moving to Bed Stuy, Bushwick, Crown Heights, etc.