Essay about Transformation of Homewood West Community

Chapters 11 and 12 in “Not in My Neighborhood” deal with Edmonson Village, a quaint, Catholic and mainly white section of Baltimore. Nothing was out of place in Edmonson Village, with TV’s running schedules and businesses thriving. But the families in the houses would stay put, being the only owners most of the time. This would mean the entire generation borne from the times of segregation did not take kindly to African Americans trying to settle in. See, black people were being vastly mistreated. Living in slums and segregated from sanitary and adequate living. But after the Civil Rights Act is passed and separation of blacks and whites is outlawed, African Americans begin earning enough to live in better quality homes, and looking to more upscale parts of

Over the last couple of decades, Buffalo has found itself in a grave housing crisis. The urban population is shrinking and the population in poverty is growing, leaving houses abandoned and left to fall apart. Although many cities in the Rust Belt are facing similar problems, about 15.7% of Buffalo housing was left vacant as of 2010, which places Buffalo as ninth in the nation for vacancy rate. As the masses abandon their homes, run down neighborhoods see an increase in crime and drug use, and a rapid decrease in property value (Armstrong et al. 1-2). Many see this deterioration, however, as an opportunity to renovate impoverished neighborhoods and make them more attractive to the upper and middle class. This process, known as gentrification, should increase the overall well being of residents by making neighborhoods safer,

Growing up in East Austin, one would be accustomed to seeing rundown neighborhoods inhabited mostly by African American and Hispanic working-class families. In the past few years though, the view has drastically changed. Now brightly colored two-story homes housing affluent Caucasian families occupy the once dilapidated areas. The previously desolated lots are now the future sites of lofts and condominiums. The recent changes in East Austin are a clear sign of gentrification. Gentrification is the extremely evident process of displacement. Revitalizing a derelict neighborhood favors the entire community, not just the ones with money. However, revitalization and gentrification

Urban crime is represented, as a key element in the movie, “Mystic River”. It is also very typical for American cities to have higher crime rates than that of rural or suburban areas. Different areas have different cultures and ways of living that directly affect how people mature; in cities distinct cultures exist and segregation based on where people live (or their religion/ethnicity) is quite common. Many people end up living where they grew up which allows corruption to be passed down through the generations. There are a lot of politics and secrets that

There are many changes that I have observed in my neighborhood since living here for 21 years. There has been a recent migration of homeowners moving out of the neighborhoods. The home owners are either renting out their homes, to a new influx of section 8 tenants or they have chosen to walk away from their homes leaving many in the area to go into foreclosure. Foreclosure and crime are two of the biggest element of change that I have noticed in my neighborhood, and many of these problems arise from the economy, health and illness, and familial structure breakdown.

When a neighborhood is gentrified it will not only change the image of it, but also the services available there (Al-Kodmany 2011, 62-63). In other words, gentrification does not only have an impact on the physical aspect of the land, but also the resources that lie there. During the 90s, the Near West Side neighborhood located near Loop, an up-scale neighborhood, sought drastic changes within the area. The changes in racial demographics in the Near West Side indicated that the health risks that affected minorities dropped in the past decade (1992-2002) (Al-Kodmany 2011,

Interviewee 3, Mrs. Homemaker, another native of Guyana, is a mother of four, and has happily relocated to South Ozone Park three years ago. Now that she’s been living there she says she doesn’t have any major complaints. She loves the neighborhood and so does her family. All of the neighbors look out for one another, and that’s one of the things she says she looks for in a neighborhood. Mrs. Homemaker tells me she sees no change in the crime in the area. The most she sees are fights and arguments among teenagers and young adults. She says this is only likely to occur when the weather’s nice, because that’s when everyone heads to the park so there’s a lot of people walking to and from passing by in front of her house. She has never seen any gangs or any type of criminal related activity in the neighborhood neither. There was another news story

Living in communities that are run down, neglected and forgotten takes a toll on all members of the community. This is especially true when residents witness new properties being erected around the city as their own neighborhoods are deemed “ghettos” and not receiving the investment necessary for improvements. Many of the low income housing that is available to city residents aren’t the most desirable properties as they may have structural deficiencies, lead paint, rats and roaches running amuck. Many older properties also do not have adequately functioning heat or hot water availability. The housing projects also do not have air conditioning. On hot days, having no cool break in addition to all the other negative social factors, this can be a deadly combination that may perpetuate frustrations and ultimately lead to violence.

The Metropolitan area of Youngstown- Warren- Boardman has been a declining area over the last few decades, and hope is not near. The situation of this city is unbelievable, with poverty just seeping at the seams. The city is struggling with low education, job scarcity, and crime. People are fleeing in hopes of finding work, leaving the population to decrease. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Youngstown Ohio is the only city to lose more than two percent of its population in two years. People are scared, depressed, and finding dangerous ways to cope with the reality of the city they are living in. The Metropolitan area of Youngstown-Warren-Boardman is on a fast decline due to the impoverished living conditions these people face daily.

According to the findings of the study, African Americans do not have the same experiences and do not enjoy the outcomes in search for homes than Caucasian Americans. Based on a table that explains what neighborhood surroundings characteristics that participants think are important, African Americans and Caucasian Americans are different to each on most topics. The majority of African Americans linked to public transportation is important than about a third of Caucasian Americans. In addition, African American participants are more likely to rate the amount of crime, taxes and public services than their counterparts as very important of their current neighborhood that they reside in. In the

I have lived in two distinct communities: the first was the town of Moraga, the second, is the city of Stockton. The former is the epitome of white picket fence suburbia, with friendly neighbors, a high ranking public school system, and a non-existent crime rate. Growing up in Moraga, I was able to receive a great education, roam around freely, and never feared horrors such as gang shootings and drug abuse. Sadly, when I moved to the latter, most of these horrors were apparent weekly.

I come from a small rural town nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. My hometown is split down the middle by a set of railroad tracks. On the north side, one can find pristine neighborhoods, newer schools, most doctors’ offices, and the only hospital in town. The south side of the town stands as a stark contrast. On the south side, you no longer find the wealthy neighborhoods but rather dilapidated and condemned homes and housing projects. One seems to find abandoned buildings on every corner, many inhabited by those that have lost their homes. Limited help is coming for those who need it, mostly through churches and volunteer programs targeting the underserved. Many doctors, dentists, and nurses are giving their time and resources to help

Housing improvement and affordability policy is an ongoing issue that our nation has battled with since desegregation. Affordable housing provision for low-income communities has been researched extensively in the past by nonprofits in Charlottesville , and The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development( HUD). Locally, the Habitat for Humanity store works to ensure this policy issue is properly addressed through making housing improvements as well as building homes for families in need. The Habitat for Humanity Store has worked to make critical home repairs with sponsorship from Home Depot for veterans (Habitat, 2017). There have been other initiatives to address housing improvement needs also. The Charlottesville Redevelopment

The violent crime rate in highly disadvantaged Black areas was 22 per 1,000 residents, not much different from the 20 per 1,000 rate in similar white communities. There are still many people who mistakenly believe there is something about the “black neighbourhoods that make them more violent and prone to crime” (Krivo, L) . Krivo is a co-author of this study and associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University.The research shows that neighbourhoods with the most crime tend to be those with the highest rates of poverty and other types of disadvantage — regardless of whether they are predominantly black or white.

Gentrification has become a common phenomenon throughout many major cities in the United States and it is impacting millions. Gentrification can be dated back to the urban renewal and slum clearance, and post war reconstruction programs implemented during the 1950s and 1960s Schaffer and Smith 1986). Although the main idea of gentrification is to, from an economic standpoint, rebuild the city and redevelop its urban core, some people are in fact negatively impacted. There seems to be a trend on the groups of people effected. Many families are being displaced from their homes due to the fact that the city is redeveloping the “urban core” and attracting many young, affluent people to live in areas surrounding it. Although, the benefits of gentrification are seemingly attractive to the governments and cities do they really outweigh the benefits of those being unable to afford the housing and being moved out of areas they have lived in for generations just to be displaced into just as impoverished of an area as before.