Brownsville Primed For Gentrification, New Map Shows

BROWNSVILLE, BROOKLYN -- Gentrification has hit the Brownsville-Crown Heights border, where housing prices have spiked over the past decade while incomes stagnated, and the rest of the neighborhood could see similar changes, a new map shows.

A new interactive map shows parts of Brownsville have already begun gentrifying while other regions are eligible for the economic shift, according to National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit.

The study, using U.S. Census Bureau tract data to identify more than 1,000 gentrified neighborhoods across the country, found six Brownsville regions where housing prices have increased, in some places nearly doubling, while annual incomes increased by just about $5,000.

Census Tract 900, on the border of Crown Heights and East Flatbush, saw median home prices go from $237,320 in 2000 to $438,800 in 2010. In the same period of time, annual salaries increased from $24,302 to just $29,610.

Six other tracts, which measure to approximately 10 city blocks, are showing signs that that the gap between housing costs and income will continue to rise.

The map also shows Brownsville has not yet seen the displacement witnessed in Brooklyn regions where gentrification has become prevalent, such as East Williamsburg, which saw a big decrease in its Hispanic community, and Bushwick, where data shows black people have been displaced.

Researchers noted just seven cities accounted for nearly half of the country’s gentrification overall, with about 135,000 people forced to leave their communities in 230 regions nationwide.They were New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Diego and Chicago, said Jason Richardson, the organization’s director of research and one of the study’s authors.

“The big investments that fuel gentrification and cultural displacement didn’t reach most of the nation’s poorest neighborhoods and rural areas,” Richardson said.

Here are the 10 cities where gentrification has been most intense:

1. Washington, D.C — 40 percent
2. San Diego, CA — 29 percent
3. New York, NY — 24 percent
4. Albuquerque, NM — 23 percent
5. Atlanta, GA — 22 percent
6. Baltimore, MD — 22 percent
7. Portland, OR — 20 percent
8. Pittsburgh, PA — 20 percent
9. Seattle, WA — 20 percent
10. Philadelphia, PA — 17 percent

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.