Pet Dogs Supplant Children As East Austin Gentrifies: Study

EAST AUSTIN, TX — Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis researchers at The University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday will present their latest findings on the "resounding effects" of gentrification on East Austin residents.

Among the study's most astonishing findings is that East Austin — historically a working-class enclave populated by Latino and black residents — now has twice as many dogs as it does children. In the past decade or so, developers have capitalized on the charm of East Austin to lure a new demographic — largely comprising upwardly mobile millennials — with luxury apartments, upscale eateries and high-end cocktail bars catering to their collective taste.

The net effect of that gentrification-fueled wave of real estate prospecting in East Austin has been exponential increases of property rates across the board, displacing many of the families who have long lived in East Austin and raised their children there no longer able to afford such costs. An untold number of residents have been displaced from homes in which generations of their families had lived, no longer able to afford the tax bill on bolstered property values.

Related story: Study Shows Corrosive Effects Of Gentrification In East Austin

The upshot: Children whose families once called East Austin neighborhoods home are an increasingly rare sight there. Where once children playing in yards or neighborhood parks under the watchful supervision of their parents was a common sight, there are now dogs walked on leashes by their upwardly mobile masters replacing them, according to the study.

Through a previous study, IUPRA previously reported Austin was the only fast-growing major city in the U.S. to show a decline in African Americans between 2000 and 2010. "The reason: Rapid gentrification to Austin’s former “Negro District” — established through Jim Crow in 1928 — priced out long-term residents, uprooting and displacing them to the surrounding, more affordable suburbs," researchers explained.

Researchers are scheduled to unveil their latest findings on gentrification-fueled displacement in East Austin on Wednesday, May 30, at 11:30 a.m. in the Gordon-White Building (GWB) Room 2.206 at 210 W 24th St. The event is free and open to the public.

Researchers offered a preview of their latest findings:

"Perhaps clearest indicator that the neighborhood has been thoroughly gentrified was the decline in the number of children, a group that once accounted for 30 percent of the neighborhoods’ population and now makes up less than 12 percent. As gentrification began, families were the first to leave, seeking economic relief and better schools, researchers said. In their place, passers-by walk their dogswhere children once played, leading researchers to ask: Do dogs outnumber children in gentrified East Austin?

"The answer is a resounding yes. Dogs outnumber children in the neighborhood nearly two to one. A profound absence of children, not an abundance of dogs, explains the disparity. The seventeen-and-under population in the neighborhood has fallen well below city and regional averages. The majority of these losses were likely among children of color."

Researchers speculate the juvenile diaspora yields a foreboding bellwether for economic and racial disparities in other communities throughout Austin, a city that continues to experience brisk growth. Copies of their report will be available at the May 30 event, researchers noted.

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