Harlem Gentrifies

The NYT has an interesting article on the gentrification occurring in Harlem. In the 1980s, White residents were 1 percent of Harlem. From 1990 to 2005, it rose from 1.5 to 4.3 percent. Real estate agents suspect that over the last three years, the proportion of White residents have doubled, but no reliable data yet exists (yes, I just called realtors unreliable - my realtor is incompetent, so I'm going to paint with a broad brush for a while). Over that same period, Black residents declined from 88 percent to 72 percent. The changing composition of the neighborhood by race and class has provided us with a natural experiment as to the effects of integration. It sounds like it's been largely a very positive things, though poorer residents may be getting priced out of the neighborhood. Sometimes there are racially-charged incidents that lead to fights or harsh words, but more times than that, the incidents lead to frank, open conversations about race. And because Black and White residents must live together, working beside one another in some contexts (such as serving on neighborhood association boards together), it's leading to people getting to know one another. As the article notes, when people get to know one another, a lot of these issues vanish. I thought this was particularly funny anecdote:

ut there have also been fish-out-of-water situations laced with humor, like new arrivals looking for barbers who cut straight hair or buying expensive wine in liquor stores with plexiglass partitions.

It's also useful to think about why this is integration is happening. Real estate prices have been growing at astronomical rates throughout Manhattan and the burroughs, but not so much in Harlem. Many are drawn to the neighborhood because of its century-old brownstones and affordability. This is basically a substitution effect, in other words. In a world without constraints, many of these residents would not have moved into Harlem, but because of uneven growth in prices, they've been led there in their search for homes. There's something interesting to say about that, even if I can't right now (b/c I'm so dead tired, maybe?).

Also, for those insiders interested, Jeff White - a white Presbyterian pastor whose been working in Harlem for years (and who trained my wife and me in leading small groups a long time ago) - is also mentioned. It's a small mention - basically, one of White's sermon jokes is written about - but nonetheless, there you go.