BY STUDENT
It's extremely hard to find affordable housing in New York City as a Latinx individual. If one does somehow find affordable housing it’s usually an apartment for rent that’s very small, deteriorating, and in an unsafe neighborhood. Being raised in the South Bronx made me question why I was I mainly surrounded by those of the Latinx or Black communities. It was always such a drastic change just traveling to Manhattan for a few because I was never surrounded by people who didn’t look like me, but I was also confused by the skyscrapers and well kept parks and neighborhoods. I assumed then that somehow being surrounded by people who look like me was a privilege, but now that I’m aware of why there was such as difference I’ve come to the conclusion that it wasn't. 56.4% of the residence who live in The Bronx are Latinx. Some areas in The Bronx, such as, Grand Concourse, Hunts Point, and HighBridge all hold a huge concentration of Latinx people. This is because we were forced to live in these neighborhoods; the segregation of communities is why we see many Latinx people resided in The Bronx. Bender discussed how Latinx and Black people were a natural demographic target; he found that where Latinx and Black people most resided is where subprime lending rose and it was linked to neighborhood segregation. These individuals took advantage of Latinx people when it came to mortgage lending by targeting them because they were perceived as susceptible to predatory loans due to being unfamiliar with purchasing and borrowing and also language barriers. Which lead to 50 percent of Latinx people using subprime financing for their financing home purchases in 2006. So my question is, how are Latinx people being discriminated against today when it comes to housing policies and what could be the reason?
Being raised and living in The Bronx my whole life gave me a first hand experience on the day to day things Latinx people deal with when it comes to housing policies. As I read through Tierra Y Libertad, bender mentions homes being a legacy in latinx families and I couldn’t help but imagine the small apartment that’s been in my family for generations. The second floor of a Bronx building right above a mexican restaurant that’s been redesigned four times in the last fifty years. The apartment that holds the wall of fame; a wall filled with pictures of my grandfather, grandmother, cousins, aunts, uncles, and even me. The apartment we’ve been renting since Puerto Ricans Migrated to The Bronx in the mid 1960’s, but also the apartment in which the landlord steals the rent money and never fixes any damages. Despite, the landlord stealing from a low income family and many court visits the rent still continues to rise and letters of threats to evict us continues to pile up in the mailbox. The quality of these apartments are not equivalent to the amount of rent we are expected to pay. The walls haven’t been repainted and there are no plans on making any repairs, just another trip to the courthouse to discuss how we paid rent that month, but the landlord decides to pocket it and take advantage of individuals he thinks are far from knowledgeable. Which is a very common story for most of the individuals who live in my apartment building.
Bibliography:
- Bender, S. (2010). Tierra y Libertad: Land, Liberty, and Latino Housing. NYU Press. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qfd4p
- Gonen, Y. (2018, May 11). 81 percent of inspected apartments have potential lead-paint hazard: NYCHA. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2017/12/13/81-percent-of-inspected-apartments-have-lead-paint-hazard-nycha/.
- Race and Ethnicity by Neighborhood in New York. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/New-York/New-York/High-Bridge/Race-and-Ethnicity.
- Semuels, A. (2015, May 19). New York City's Public-Housing Crisis. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/05/new-york-citys-public-housing-crisis/393644/.
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Bronx County (Bronx Borough), New York. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/bronxcountybronxboroughnewyork.
I enjoyed reading your post, I think you provided a lot of detail. I liked how you talked about your apartment and described that wall in your house with the pictures of your grandparents and your aunts and uncles. It definitely makes sense that banks would take advantage of minorities who are not educated enough or have language barriers. Immigrants are one of the most vulnerable populations in the US because they lack the knowledge of laws and policies. It's sad knowing millions of people are being displaced from their communities. I recently had to leave my apartment in Brooklyn in which I lived at all my life. Unlike many families who have been displaced I am fortunate to say that my parents were able to purchase their own home. I miss Brooklyn so much, it's been hard adjusting into an entire new borough and community. Overall I think its important for us the be that voice for our parents and community that lack the knowledge their rights as tenants.
ReplyDeleteI definitely resonated with your post because as someone who also lives in the city, housing was and still is very expensive and its only going to get worse. A decent studio apartment is about $1300-$1400 a month which is insane. Growing up I also noticed how areas where the residents were mainly white were kept cleaner, and given more attention by city officials.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post a lot and though I can't directly relate with your experience, it is one that I hear a lot from Latinx and Black people that reside within these areas. I enjoyed you discussing the wall in your home and how long that apartment has been apart of your family and it is truly disheartening and wrong to hear the story you tell of a landlord that refuses to fix the issues in your apartment as well and constantly raises rent. Your knowledge of the housing laws is essential and extremely important in assisting your generation and the ones to come from being exploited by landlords.
ReplyDelete-Deandra B.