In Los Angeles, CA, along Jefferson Blvd and West Adams,
“Priced out of more expensive areas, especially the Westside where a tech boom is underway, young professionals are scooping up fixer-uppers and newly remodeled homes in neighborhoods they can afford.
In particular, Jefferson Park and West Adams — largely bounded by the 10 Freeway to the north, Exposition Boulevard to the south, La Cienega to the west and Western Avenue to the east — have been attractive given their location halfway between downtown and the Westside.”
Andrew Khouri, “Home Prices Soar Near USC As Flippers And Developers Rush to ‘One of the Best Neighborhoods Left’ For Flippers, Los Angeles Times, September 16, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-jefferson-park-flips-20160831-snap-story.html. However, the article is incorrect regarding why the prices are so affordable for these “young professionals” and why the property is so expensive elsewhere in the metro area.
The reasons for the cheaper prices are Jim Crow, Racism, Greed and Police Brutality.
The tech boom is not why housing is so much cheaper in Black areas. The tech boom is one of the reasons why young professionals and new urbanites are here seeking to take our property as cheaply as they can. The tech boom represents how these young professionals, new urbanites and millennials happily take advantage of Jim Crow and of the huge disparity in property values between the Black and white sides of town, and then push up the rents and housing costs while displacing Blacks, repeating the same displacement pattern as in San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, New York, Brooklyn, and Washington, D.C.[1]. The tech boom represents how the younger white generation is exactly like the openly-racist whites with regards to Blacks and expectations of Black neighborhoods. Greed and racism created the enormous price disparities between the Westside and Black areas. The Black areas of Los Angeles County were already intentionally left underdeveloped and undervalued compared to the white majority areas of the Westside, Valley and South Bay. These new groups are taking advantage of these racist policies so that they may profit from the depressed prices and future expected profits brought by displacement- aka the “fixer-upper market.” Police brutality enforced these racist land use policies.
“One of the best neighborhoods left.”
This quote does not describe the local people. It’s describing how cheap the land is and how this Black area is one of the best neighborhoods left in Los Angeles to exploit the low property values for “flippers” by developer David Pourbabg, who is planning a mixed-used complex on Adams Boulevard where he can purchase land for around $80 per square foot, compared with $500 a square foot downtown Los Angeles.[2]. This quote perfectly displays the exploitative attitude toward our neighborhoods.
Flippers and the new urbanite buyers are displacing Blacks and exploiting the depressed property values resulting from Jim Crow in West Adams and Jefferson Park. The selling prices are double to triple what was paid. As with the other cities and areas, people seeking to exploit Black neighborhoods are increasing the prices out of reach for most Americans.
The big developers are building right on top of us, while the new urbanites and young professionals are trying to buy our homes for as cheap as possible.
This is another example of how Black communities were left underdeveloped in order to provide cheap housing, and the pressure these new urbanites are placing on Black communities to provide this cheap housing as they displace local Blacks.
When these people drive through our neighborhoods, they only see cheap housing, profit and waste. They envision a completely different landscape- one without Blacks. Although many claim race neutrality, the disappearing Black populations of New York/Harlem, Brooklyn, Washington D.C., Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles shows a population intent on displacing Blacks while making a profit.[3]. The same pattern of development, encroachment, and following rising housing/rent costs is not slowing down, but is accelerating. For the NAWS and urbanites, our disappearing populations is an acceptable benefit for cheap housing. It’s immoral and hypocritical.
This referenced article was written in 2016. Economic exploitation of this Black community has been occurring for the past year, at least.
But for Jim Crow, these homes would not be available at such low prices. Because these new urbanites are taking advantage of decades of police brutality, urban decay, Jim Crow, discrimination and racism, they hands are just as dirty as the police and open racists. The future expected profits are not being included in our property valuations, thus cheating Blacks out of profits and fair participation in this housing boom. It’s white supremacy. These new urbanites, young professionals and white millennials, (whatever one wants to call them) are both the usual republican types and so called liberals and “liberal” groups, and comprise of mostly white: males, females, heterosexuals and homosexuals. For more information see my post on the BRIH Ch. 3: New American White Supremacy (NAWS). See also Demand, Supply and Discrimination: The Intentional Devaluation of Black Communities; BRIH-Ch. 2. Black Relocation Is the Result of the New Urbanites and Developers Increasing Pressure on Black Communities to Provide Cheap Reserve Housing to Supply Their Urban Dream by Combining Increasing Rents/Housing Costs With Police Brutality; BRIH Ch. 1. Intentional Devaluation and False Promises.
The location of these areas did not change. These neighborhoods were and still are close to downtown. The weather is still the same. The only difference is the color of the new occupants.
Adams and Jefferson are streets in the Black area of Los Angeles, CA. This pressure is encircling what’s left of the Black communities. The metro green line will bring the young professionals/urbanites into Inglewood and Crenshaw. Development and the new urbanites are pushing west from downtown, south from mid-Wilshire and Pico, and east from the new Culver City.
Get a Fair Price.
So what do we do? Take steps to prevent our economic exploitation. Our property is increasingly targeted for exploitation by these young professionals, new urbanites, white millennials, flippers and developers. How? (1) Refuse to sell for cheap. What will seem like a good offer is actually chump change compared to expected profits. (2) Become more aware of the governing zoning laws and of housing bills before our Legislature in Sacramento, CA that are only accelerating our relocation under the guise of affordable housing (see Affordable Housing page). All Black communities should become familiar with their state’s zoning laws and procedure. (3) Ask potential buyers what their plans are for the property- a single family home, a multi-unit dwelling, or mixed-use? More in later posts…
[1] Natalie Hopskinson “Farewell, Chocolate City”, New York Times, June 3, 2012; Maura Dolan, “San Francisco’s Black Population Dwindling”, The Seattle Times, May 11, 2015, http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/san-franciscos-black-population-dwindling/; Nadre Nittle, “Will San Francisco’s Black Population Vanish as City’s Wealth Rises?”, Atlanta Black Star, October 13, 2015, http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/10/13/will-san-franciscos-black-population-vanish-citys-wealth-rises/; Thomas Fuller, “The Loneliness of Being Black in San Francisco”, New York Times, July 20, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/black-exodus-from-san-francisco.html; Sam Roberts, “White Population Rises in Manhattan”, New York Times, July 4, 2010. https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/white-population-rises-in-manhattan/; Sam Roberts, “No Longer Majority Black, Harlem in in Transition”, New York Times, January 5, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06harlem.html; Tyrone Beason, “Seattle’s Vanishing Black Community”, Seattle Times, Pacific NW Magazine, May 26, 2016, https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/seattles-vanishing-black-community/; Gene Balk, “Historically Black Central District Could Be Less Than 10% Black In a Decade”, Seattle Times, May 25, 2015, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/historically-black-central-district-could-be-less-than-10-black-in-a-decade/; Andrew Theen, “Portland Area Attracting New and Diverse Residents as Black Population Dwindles”, Oregonian, March 8, 2017, http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/03/post_585.html;
[2] Khouri, “Home Prices Soar…”.
[3] Jed Kolko, “Top 10 Least and Most Expensive Housing Markets for Today’s Middle Class”, Forbes online, May 14, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/trulia/2014/05/14/top-10-least-and-most-expensive-housing-markets-for-todays-middle-class/#5221ee3f63f6; “Coldwell Banker Home Listing Report, the Most Expensive and Most Affordable Markets in the United States”, Coldwell Banker Real Estate, September 8, 2016, http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7909851-2016-coldwell-banker-real-estate-home-listing-report/; Dan Burrows, “Most Expensive Cities in the United States to Live 2017”, Kiplinger.com, May 2017, http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/real-estate/T006-S001-most-expensive-u-s-cities-to-live-in-2017/index.html; Josh Barbanel, “New York City Housing Prices Set Record”, WSJ, December 27, 2015, https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-housing-prices-set-record-1451268454.
Essays on Modern Jim Crow and Black Relocation From the Urban Cores; Inglewood, CA is Great with Blacks 