BY STUDENT
Finding housing in New York seems almost impossible when factors of money and race come into play. Housing is not affordable in New York, and when your part of a more diverse community most people don’t want to sell to you. Yonkers is very diverse in the areas that they have. They have what people consider ghettos and they have a more suburban area with houses and schools. Downtown Yonkers is what people consider ghetto, however over the recent years the area close to the waterfront has been severely gentrified. The waterfront has emerging condos, high end restaurants like X2O and the Dolphin Restaurant. This area is also where a lot of high schoolers come and take their prom pictures. When coming home from Albany It’s almost shocking seeing the shift from the waterfront to the inner part of the city. I wonder how housing policies today affect Yonkers and how the Latinx community in this city is affected by it.
Before my mom met my stepdad, we were section 8 recipients in Yonkers. Our economic status changed drastically. My stepdad owns several properties in Yonkers, that he rents to lower income people, with section 8 vouchers and my mom handles all the paperwork for him. Therefore, I have an inside view in what it’s like to need government help to pay rent and what it’s like to house people that need this help as well. I also know how difficult it is to find housing being that my mom is the one that looks for people to rent for. An apartment with 4 bedrooms and one bathroom goes for 2,200. Which I would say is pretty high. It’s also important to note that not all landlords accept people with government help. My stepdad says that gentrification actually hurts him. Gentrification places a lot of people out of housing. With these people moving out to find more affordable areas he would have no choice but to sell his properties.
As mentioned in Tierra y Libertad “overcrowded housing is emerging as a battleground in the national debate over immigration”. In other words, people seem to have a problem with overcrowding due to “health and safety concerns”. I find this interesting because when my mom gets phone calls about apartments, most of the time they try to find apartments with 5 bedrooms because there is a lot of people in their household. My mom always says the biggest apartment she has is with 4 bedrooms and that she’s never seen an apartment in Yonkers with 5. It’s interesting because it’s not like the Latinx community wants to be in cluttered spaces it just happens to be the situation they are in. the apartment alone is expensive, and they cannot afford putting a mortgage on a house. With gentrification taking place as well, it’s not like they can afford those expensive condos. In conclusion gentrification affects all parties and the only people winning are big corporations and developers.
Work cited
Bender, Steven. Tierra y Libertad: Land, Liberty, and Latino Housing. New York: New York University Press, 2016.
Donelson, Dave. “Is Yonkers About To Experience A Giant Revival?” Westchester Magazine. Accessed November 27, 2019. http://www.westchestermagazine.com/Westchester-Magazine/August-2014/Yonkers-Revival-Growth/.
“101 Oak St, Yonkers, NY 10701.” realtor.com®. Accessed November 27, 2019. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/101-Oak-St_Yonkers_NY_10701_M40901-25765.
I agree that finding housing within New York is a feat hard to achieve. For example, all my life my family has lived a few blocks away from Brownsville which can be known as the 'center' ghetto. What I have noticed over the years is that the further away from Brownsville you go the more houses you see and less apartments. Which is where the prices start to increase. The current house my mother lives in is an example of failed gentrification. The apartment floor I live in now used to be two individual rooms but were combined into one with an increased price. With the help with the government my mother was able to afford the apartment. Without the help I'm not sure if that would be the case.
ReplyDeleteI was very surprised when a recent article came out talking about how a former real estate admits to gatekeeping communities. Meaning they intentionally tried to sell housing the people that they believe were a "goof fit" to the existing community. They admitted to turning down or refusing to show minority clients housing in white or suburban areas that potentially matches their budget. The housing market is heavily racialized.
ReplyDeleteDo you think there is possibly a connection between red lining and zoning, and who or what communities receive section 8 vouchers?
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