Bryan Krayko Economic Geography
GEOG 22100 Annie Spencer Foreclosures and Gentrification in New York City

The uneven development of New York City’s outer boroughs has taken a dive into massive foreclosure in the recent years due to high unemployment, unyielding bankers, and gentrification. The issue is on an urban and regional scale and needs to be closely observed and studied to better prevent the spread of this plague. The recent victims in this failure are the middle class, with whom the troubles of foreclosure are starting to catch up. Gentrification is also starting to push the poor out of their homes to make way for the rich. This unevenness came from the inevitable shift of balance that comes with industrial capitalism.
A fresh wave of foreclosures is impacting middle-class homeowners in Queens. Queens neighborhoods have been sinking since 2008 when the crisis first started. Come 2011, the foreclosure rate spiked and began to trouble middle-class homeowners. Many homeowners rely on tenants to help them with paying their mortgage. With the recent departure of tenants from the area, Queens homeowners are left with less money and more problems. According to the New York Post, “Foreclosures jumped 19 percent in New York City and 164 percent in Queens in 2012 versus 2011, as The Post reported last week. Four of the hardest-hit sections of Queens — St. Albans, Rosedale, Cambria Heights and Queens Village — saw foreclosure rates more than double, according to RealtyTrac. More than 2 percent of housing units in those areas are in foreclosure, outstripping the national average of 1.39 percent.” (Curan) Staten Island is following a similar trend with a year-to-year increase in 19%. A fellow neighbor in Staten Island, Maria Rivera, 51, told me about her mother’s tragic story in Flushing, Queens. Her mother was uprooted after 30 years of living in the same 1-bedroom apartment due to her rent skyrocketing. She now lives with Maria in her house making it a household of seven. “She was devastated; lasting memories were gone in the blink of an eye. Sometimes, she still doesn’t believe it and apologizes for the extended stay until the issues with the landlord straighten out” (Rivera). The party with all fingers pointed at them are the banks. “Banks must submit to months of mediation before foreclosing, and lawyers must attest that the bank can prove ownership. Judges here show waning patience for the three-card monte act of some banks” (Powell). Powell also illustrates a powerful picture to show a modern Queens is resembled. “Three years ago, when I wandered this block south of Linden Boulevard in Queens, banks had foreclosed on eight homes. In the years since, banks have filed notice against a half-dozen more owners. Some of those homes sit abandoned, plywood boards nailed across doors and windows” (Powell). The middle class and the poor face hardships and must relocate themselves. However, another factor of industrial capitalism stands in their way; gentrification.
As the cost of living rises in New York City, gentrification is spreading as well. This combination leaves New Yorkers wondering where to go next. Areas such as Harlem and Lower East Side had once been bustling, overcrowded, and had plenty of business to offer. Today, they have become areas of poverty who have lost population, business, and hope. As neighborhoods gentrify, buildings get sold, landlords raise rents, and some people are forced out of their homes. For example, Brooklyn’s social space is being revalued as the poor and depressed neighborhoods become the home of wealthy professionals. Ways of life, cultures, and structures are shaken in areas of Brooklyn such as Brownsville and Williamsburg as coffee shops, stores, and restaurants flood their sidewalks. These institutions make it hard for residents to cope with finding employment and housing. Assemblyman Hakeem S. Jeffries commented in a NY Times article, “The poorer neighborhoods were devastated by the collapse of the economy and have not meaningfully recovered. The sidewalk cafes are great, but we need a blueprint for employment and housing opportunities that are desperately needed in parts of Brownsville and East New York. We should continue to promote Brooklyn as a trendy destination but cannot forget the bread-and-butter economic issues that many distressed Brooklynites continue to deal with each day.” (Berger). Staten Island is also beginning to experience some gentrification as artists begin to flock towards the south shore of the island as a cheaper way to settle their culture in a remote area. However, this migration began to affect the migrants and the local residents as rents were raised and some small business owners say “We’re not seeing many faces these days. Some days, I only see my regulars and friends” New York City’s cost of living is rising every day. Foreclosures and gentrification contribute to displacement and what could be the fall of some neighborhoods.
Residents of middle and lower classes can all agree that New York City is changing. For better or worse, cost of living is only getting higher, making it more difficult for the common resident to make ends meet. Spikes in foreclosures and gentrification are quickly uprooting many lives and forcing people to look at other options. New York City is one of, and certainly not the only victims of uneven development caused by industrial capitalism.
Works Cited
Berger, Joseph. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/nyregion/as-brooklyn-gentrifies-some-neighborhoods-are-being-left-behind.html?pagewanted=all. 8 July 2012. 25 February 2013.
Curan, Catherin. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/queens_middle_class_hit_on_mortgages_8dp2r2yJu3j29h0cPqzL1H. 11 February 2013.
Powell, Michael. http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/nyregion/in-a-queens-neighborhood-signs-of-uneven-burdens-from-a-housing-crisis.html. 12 February 2012. 22 February 2013.
Rivera, Maria. Mother is uprooted and left to live with us. Bryan Krayko. 22 February 2013.