TENAC
- May 31, 2020
- 4 min read

DC DISPLACES, BUT MOST DON'T, Studies Reveal

STUDIES: DC DISPLACES ITS COMMUNITIES

WHILE MOST OTHER CITIES DO NOT - WE MUST ASK WHY, DEMAND ANSWERS!

As one Washington Post headline observed, studies show that among its fellow cities, D.C. stands out as "bucking the trend" by using displacement to implement gentrification, while most other localities do not. This was all not done in a corner (Acts 26:26). Now frank studies and reporting show what few say openly, speaking truth to power. This is what tenants have known for years, and is plainly spelled out, almost empirically for all to see. Indeed, TENAC and other housing advocates have been sounding the alarm for years about this, and decrying the fact the warnings were unheeded. Recently, The DCist and The Washington Post, among others (Iinks below) report that DC, unlike most cities, not just displaces its residents here and there, but whole neighborhoods. This is all done, of course, to to gentrify large swaths of the city for affluent newcomers and investors. And further increase rent (and home) prices. We must ask our leaders who approved this strange phenomenon over the past two decades, all without whom it could not be accomplished - - the mayors, councilmembers, the Office of Planning, and regulatory agencies - - WHY. Perhaps the real estate lobby, its associations, and lawyers can also provide answers. Article from The DCist by Natalie Delgadilio:

Most 'Gentrifying' Cities Aren't Actually Experiencing Displacement, but D.C. Is, Study Finds

Washington, D.C. is one of the few major cities in the entire country where gentrification is actually displacing people from their neighborhoods, a new study has found. According to the study from the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity (first reported on by the Washington Post), in most cities, low-income people are still less likely to live in areas experiencing economic growth. What's more, the share of low-income individuals living in a given neighborhood actually hasn't changed all that much in many U.S. cities. Using census data from 2000 and the 2016 American Community Survey data, the report tracks granular neighborhood changes by loss or gain of low-income populations. The study's authors say that changes happening in D.C., however, do impact the composition of residents. From 2000 to 2016, it has "experienced the strongest gentrification and displacement of any city in the country." Thirty-five percent of the city's low-income residents live in an area that's growing economically, and in these growing areas, displacement is rampant. The low-income population living in District neighborhoods that are experiencing economic expansion fell by 28 percent during the study period, according to the data. The black population in these areas fell by 23 percent, while the white population grew by 202 percent. "For all the talk of gentrification happening in cities all over the country, what we found is that it really isn't," Myron Orfield, director of the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity, told the Post. "Washington is one of the few places in the country where real displacement is actually occurring. It's quite rare." Other recent studies have published similar findings, highlighting the depth of neighborhood change in D.C. over the last few decades. Just last month, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition published a study that found the District has the highest number of gentrifying neighborhoods in the country. A detailed interactive map accompanying the IMO study provides even more information on exactly where and how much displacement is happening. Many of the neighborhoods identified as having lost a large number of low-income residents are the expected ones: Columbia Heights, Logan Circle, Bloomingdale, Shaw, Edgewood, Petworth, Park View, and Brookland. The census tract that encompasses Howard University, where recent backlash against white neighbors walking their dogs on the historically black college campus ignited debates about gentrification, experienced a nearly 20 percent decline in the share of low-income people living there from 2000 to 2016. Swaths of Ward 6 are some of the most heavily affected by displacement in the last 16 years. The low-income population in some of the census tracts in Hill East, traditionally the less affluent part of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, has decreased by more than 30 percent. In parts of the Southwest waterfront, particularly Navy Yard, it's decreased by more than 50 percent. According to the study, the only parts of D.C. experiencing economic decline and a lack of gentrification are Wards 7 and 8, "and even these areas show some signs of displacement." The suburban areas just outside of D.C., on the other hand, are experiencing the opposite of low-income displacement: a new concentration of low-income residents and economic decline, according to the study. "About 437,000 suburban residents live in areas that experienced strong [economic] decline, and those areas have seen their low-income population grow 70 percent since 2000, while losing 30 percent of white population," the study reads. "They are mostly concentrated in Prince George's County northeast and southeast of the city, such as in New Carrollton."