This is a synopsis of a study published in 2016 about gentrification in Boston, Massachusetts, still one of the most segregated, and most expensive to live in, cities in the U.S.  Understanding Gentrification and Displacement: Community Voices and Changing Neighborhoods was co-authored by James Jennings, Bob Terrell, Jen Douglas, Kalila Barnett, and Ashley E. Harding and with support from The Hyams Foundation in Boston. While it is based on census data from a few years ago, the story is still current in terms of the problem of gentrification and displacement, and ongoing community struggles to resist such. (Read the full study)

The study had three objectives: 1) to collect and present quantitative and qualitative data that can help towards understanding how displacement related to gentrification is being experienced in parts of Roxbury, an historically and predominantly Black neighborhood; 2) to document the concerns of key voices about gentrification and displacement; and, 3) to propose guideposts and questions to frame the collection of data that can strengthen community organizing aimed at reducing displacement as a result of housing and commercial gentrification. The team met with and interviewed twenty community activists and leaders each with a long history of community organizing in the areas of local economic development, housing, public health, immigration rights, education, and environmental justice.

The study was undertaken midst growing concern and angst about the gentrification of Boston’s neighborhoods and the consequent displacement of low-income and working-class families. The angst is based on a sense on the part of many residents that recent changes threaten to disrupt the substantial community wealth and social capital that has been built over generations. Earlier, urban renewal displaced massive numbers of families. The contemporary array of private development and real estate frenzy conjoined with rapidly rising housing costs is resulting in a new face of urban renewal with similar outcomes.

Gentrification is described as an economic, class, and racial dynamic in areas of the city that have experienced disinvestment — or lack of investment — but are nevertheless now experiencing significant and rapid increases in land and real estate values, at the same attracting increasing numbers of new and wealthier renters and homeowners. These same areas are witnessing a loss of lower-income individuals and families and long-time residents as well as very small businesses, and cultural spaces.  In many places, though not exclusively, gentrification contains a racial and ethnic dimension; neighborhood areas where residents were predominantly African American, Black, Latino/a, or Asian find themselves no longer able to afford to live in their old communities or are actively being displaced through rapid high increases in housing costs and replaced with new wealthier White residents.

There is a concern that the long struggle for a better neighborhood will not accrue to those who fought for it. Roxbury residents have fought consistently around a range of issues aimed at improving living conditions and the quality of life in a neighborhood that, for a long time, was predominantly African American and then increasing numbers of working-class Latino/as. These struggles took place in the face of tremendous economic challenges including poverty and economic neglect on the part of city administrations and the private sector over decades, and in a historical context where African Americans were always the ‘Other’ despite an integral presence throughout Boston’s entire history.

Housing data depict speculative activity on the rise.  There are high numbers of distressed properties, housing court evictions, and vacancies.  At the completion of the study over 1,500 units of subsidized housing were approaching “expiring use” dates when they would be at risk of being converted to market-rate units. In Boston, but especially among Black and Latino/a, and some Asian households there is a substantial level of severely rent-burdened households where 50% or more of household income goes towards rents.

Displacement is threatening housing but also the maintenance of a historical and cultural community fabric in this neighborhood.  Roxbury has a vibrant neighborhood-based infrastructure with a rich network of community- and faith-based organizations, many of which have been involved in decades-long struggles to improve local living conditions involving education, housing, employment, youth, arts and culture, health, and economic development. There are hundreds of businesses that, although small, still generate an employment base for thousands of individuals.  But today, Roxbury is vulnerable as a vibrant, working-class neighborhood.

For this study we met with, and asked community activists to pose six broad questions:

1) Do you have concerns about potential displacement in this neighborhood?

2) How do you see, define, or experience gentrification and displacement in this part of Boston?

3) What factors trigger gentrification as you define it?

4) How does displacement occur, and have you witnessed any instances of such?

5) What are your ideas for reducing displacement in this neighborhood?

6) Is there a role for government regarding the mitigation of gentrification and displacement?

Collectively the following themes emerged from these community conversations:

-- Growing fears about housing and commercial displacement in Roxbury.

-- A sense of irony and frustration that many local efforts and initiatives to improve living conditions in the neighborhood are becoming the foundation for wealthier newcomers via processes of gentrification.

-- The weakening of small businesses with strong neighborhood ties.

-- A need for expansion of homeownership opportunities for long-term residents.

-- Importance of local government understanding better how property assessments and taxes can have negative impacts in vulnerable neighborhoods absent an equity lens.

-- A need for greater emphasis on community organizing, especially among youth and residents of subsidized housing.

-- Utilizing zoning as a key tool for preventing displacement.

-- A need for inter-neighborhood communication across the city about gentrification and displacement; and,

-- The critical role of free and accessible data about ongoing or impending neighborhood and land changes.

These themes are explained in greater detail in the full study.  The community activists also proposed six recommendations to fight gentrification and displacement in Roxbury.  These included:

1) Enhance the ability of current and long-time residents to remain in place.

2) Foster and support democratic participation and community control over land use.

3) Preserve and expand the stock of social housing, including creating opportunities for wealth- building through non-speculative homeownership.

4) Design development and city improvement to benefit the community of long-time residents and avoid their displacement as part of comprehensive local economic development.

5) Recognize, support, and grow locally based economic activity.

6) Increase data availability and tracking of real estate activity.

Today, there are numerous community groups acting on these recommendations.  And there have been some important victories. For example, last year -in large part because of community activism- Boston became the first major city to impose assessments of fair housing into its zoning codes. But the future of ensuring that long-time and working-class residents can remain in their homes and can acquire economic power amid massive concentration of wealth is still a big question.  Political and visionary battles for Boston’s future continue.  These battles will determine the social and economic well-being of Roxbury and other neighborhoods in Boston.  We must ensure that community voices are strengthened and sustain lest the future be determined by real estate and big corporate markets rife with concentrated wealth, and which would result in continuing gentrification and displacement, increasing income and wealth inequality, and persistent poverty.