The Gospel of Gentrification - Part 2

In my previous post about gentrification, I established a simple premise. Any development and revitalization of  a neighborhood that leads to the involuntary displacement of already existing people, history, and culture is inequitable, and antithetical to God’s desire for wholeness and flourishing for all of his creation.

I would like to invite you into my local context.

In the United States, gentrification shows up in many urban neighborhoods in similar ways. However, each context is very unique. I would like to invite you into my local context. We begin today’s conversation by looking at a portion of the history of a specific neighborhood: Houston's historic Third Ward.

History

In 1865, news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Texas. Stimulated by their emancipation from slavery, and the need to have a safe place to commemorate the anniversary of their freedom, members of Houston’s African American community united to raise approximately $1,000 in 1872 to purchase a 10 acre plot of land just southeast of downtown Houston. This plot of land, known as Emancipation Park, continues its historic legacy as a place to celebrate freedom.

While many African Americans populated Houston’s historic Fourth Ward and Freedmen’s Town, Third Ward soon grew in size and popularity. African Americans settled in the area around Emancipation Park. Soon a stable community began to form, even in the face of continued discrimination and segregation. African Americans established churches, universities, hospitals, and banks, because they could not do any of these things alongside their white counterparts in other neighborhoods in the city.

They could not do any of these things alongside their white counterparts in other neighborhoods in the city.

The historic Third Ward served as a safe place for marginalized people groups to settle and call home. But even within this neighborhood, historic disparities existed between various people groups residing here. The African American community lived in the northern part of Third Ward, characterized by one story row houses. The Jewish community lived in the southern part, in largerhouses. Both groups were historically segregated and excluded from owning homes or living in other parts of the city.

Laws

In the United States, segregation of marginalized people groups based on ethnicity and race was sanctioned by policy and legislation. No sector of society was immune from racism and segregation. From education to commerce, from voting rights to housing, racism and discrimination have plagued the flourishing of African Americans in Third Ward.

In 1934, the National Housing Act was created to make housing more affordable for citizens of the United States, especially low- and moderate-income residents. Unfortunately, based on race and ethnicity, certain neighborhoods were targeted as high risk areas for loans. This went against the spirit of the law and gave birth to a practice known as redlining. Third Ward was one of those neighborhoods. This meant that African Americans in this area of the city, regardless of economic status, were denied loans to buy new homes or improve existing homes based on the color of their skin.

African Americans in this area of the city were denied loans to buy new homes or improve existing homes based on the color of their skin.

After World War II, another Bill called the G.I. Bill was passed. The G.I. Bill gave many veterans opportunities to access loans for education, business start-ups, housing, and a host of other things. Unfortunately, African Americans who qualified for funding through this bill were denied access to predominantly white neighborhoods because of the color of their skin. Realtors feared that the value of homes would drop because white neighbors would not want to live next to African American neighbors.

This proved true even Third Ward. As African Americans became more upwardly mobile in the community, they began moving into the southern part of the neighborhood. However, many in the Jewish community moved out in response. Many African Americans saw the value of their properties continue to drop. As a result, some moved out to the suburbs when they had the chance, further eroding the stability and wealth of the neighborhood.

Over the next couple decades, property values in Third Ward plummeted.

Both redlining and housing discrimination created unjust systems that made it nearly impossible for urban neighborhoods like Third Ward to flourish. These structural dynamics and policy implementations, legally sanctioned by the U.S. government, did not allow neighborhoods like the historic Third Ward develop in the same way that other neighborhoods did. Over the next couple decades, property values in Third Ward plummeted. Businesses closed shop. Public schools were underfunded. Historic churches lost membership. Crime began to rise. Wealth became near impossible to pass down from generation to generation.

Laws that are just are meant to protect people and create space for human flourishing. Unfortunately, the application of these laws created a self-fulfilling prophecy of devaluation and blight. The racist implementation of housing policies was clearly unjust because it led to the slow unraveling of the economic fabric of this community. The unjust reordering of neighborhoods like Third Ward and the segregation of human beings from systems of flourishing based on the color of their skin is not the way things are supposed to be.

God is making things right and giving us new imaginations and paradigms for development without displacement.

The seeds of gentrification and displacement were planted a long time ago. The phenomenon we see in the last few decades is only the reward we reap collectively as a society from what we have sown. But through collective action that seeks justice, God is making things right and giving us new imaginations and paradigms for development without displacement. Join me next month for the last movement in our journey towards a more equitable way to revitalize a neighborhood.