‘Displaced By Design:’ Report Spotlights Gentrification in Black Neighborhoods

A new report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, “Displaced By Design,” highlights the impacts of gentrification on Black neighborhoods.

As Eliana Perozo explains in Next City, “From 1980 to 2020, gentrification impacted more than 1,800 downtown census tracts in major metro areas, with Washington, DC, New York City, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta and the San Francisco Bay area topping the list.” This amounts to roughly 15 percent of urban U.S. neighborhoods.

According to the report, “Nearly half of mostly-Black neighborhoods that experienced gentrification in 1980 were no longer mostly-Black by 2020; of those, about 29% saw a full racial turnover and became mostly white or Hispanic neighborhoods, and about 23% became racially-mixed.” This raises concern about new patterns of segregation and loss of opportunity and wealth for Black households.

The study’s authors emphasize that the study focused on “developer-driven and urban planning-driven gentrification” rather than displacement caused by individual home flippers, and suggests ways that cities can mitigate the negative impacts on longtime residents of gentrifying areas including “community-led development, affordable housing preservation, homestead exemptions on property taxes.”