The End of White Flight?
Since 1940, “white flight” has affected the city’s demographics, not to mention its real estate market; every year, the population of white, non-Hispanic residents in the inner city decreased. That is, until the turn of this century. The NY Times reports that since 2000, 100,000 non-Hispanic whites have returned to the city, and half of…
Since 1940, “white flight” has affected the city’s demographics, not to mention its real estate market; every year, the population of white, non-Hispanic residents in the inner city decreased. That is, until the turn of this century. The NY Times reports that since 2000, 100,000 non-Hispanic whites have returned to the city, and half of that increase occurred between 2006 and 2007. Experts call the shift a “harbinger of racial equilibrium” and a testament to “diversity and ethnic heterogeneity.” For some, of course, such shifts signal an undertone of gentrification; it’s not always good news. And some of those folks returning from the ‘burbs work in the financial industry, lured by family-friendly, high-end projects that are sometimes seen as gated communities within the city; no one’s sure if they’ll stay as the economy sours. Still, the census findings reveal a strong city — stronger, in fact than some of the suburbs. The percentage of folks paying more than 30% of income on rent/mortgage dropped in NYC; it rose in the suburbs.
White Flight Has Reversed, Census Finds [NY Times]
Photo by thunderhoof
no no no, all white people are rich donchaknow.
My move from Carroll Gardens (where I lived for 15 years) to South Brooklyn was also based on economic necessity. I’m a white woman, FWIW.
My move from the west village to brooklyn was based on economic necessity, DOW.
“How come when whites move to a non-white neighborhood, it is considered gentrification and when non-whites move to a white neighborhood, it is considered diversification?”
Whites move out by choice if they don’t want diversity. Blacks are forced out economically whether they want to stay or not.
Likewise, A Guest, why is there an outpouring of sympathy for a poor person who is displaced by a middle-class gentrifier, but none for the middle-class person who is forced out of his/her neighborhood by bankers and foreigners?
Perhaps the rest of NYC is finally catching with something that happened in Lefferts Manor back in the ’50s.
pete – how is this not news worth of the first page of the metro section? at least annually, if not more often, stories about the diminishing share of “non-white hispanics” in the country’s population appear on the front page of the front section, along with full discussion of the reasons and potential ramifications. what’s “bordering on racist” or biased about this article, reporting a demographic shift? it’s a serious question – what, in your opinion, shouldn’t have they reported? or if it’s not the content but purely the tone, what, specifically, do you find offensive about it?
In an effort to stimulate conversation I will pose a question:
How come when whites move to a non-white neighborhood, it is considered gentrification and when non-whites move to a white neighborhood, it is considered diversification?
The lack of convenient land within the Northeast in which to ‘sprawl’ into, is the single factor that may save NYC from entering a horrible period like that from 1970-1990.