The Changing Neighborhood For Bedford Stuyvesant Rentals

By Allyson Burke


Brooklyn is not an attractive a location to live as Manhattan, but in recent years has become a haven for artists, hipsters, architects, attorneys, and other folks seeking lower rents, or properties they can own in New York. Bedford Stuyvesant rentals now appear affordable by comparison to Manhattan even though the prices are still high and climbing. Before 2000 Bed-Stuy had a reputation for being completely black, poor and full of crime. Now gentrification since 2000 has changed the character of the population and reduced some crime.

Black populations spilling over from Harlem were the first residents of Bed-Stuy when it incorporated into an official neighborhood in 1930. Several public school serving the community including a high school of business and technology named after Paul Robeson spot the area. Located in the northwest part of Brooklyn, Bed-Stuy is noted for its lovely brownstone townhouses. These buildings make great fixer-uppers for wannabe designers or clever architects. Social ills have always plagued efforts to improve this place.

Now, as more and more attorneys, restaurants, bars, clubs, galleries, cafes and creative offices move in to the Bed-Stuy area in favor of the cheaper rents, the texture of this unique part of New York is changing quickly. Old time residents are feeling the strain on their rents and ownership as new tenants with much more cash move in to occupy. Another feature of the neighborhood besides architecturally-inviting buildings is its proximity to good metropolitan train and bus service. This makes transportation for commuters easy.

Shirley Chisholm, Lena Horne, Richie Havens and Vanessa Williams are among the famous African-Americans to grow up in and come from Bed-Stuy. Additionally, the number of well-known rappers is quite high. Jackie Gleason who was born nearby in 1916 and grew up there as one of the few white residents.

What makes this area attractive to the gentrifying class now is the lower prices for property, the transport, schools and overall affordability. It's location near to but outside of Manhattan and history of crime tend to keep it less expensive than other parts of New York. But, for gentrifying elements, it also seems a "frontier." People so want to live in New York that they will move to Brooklyn to start up, fix up, and put up.

the problem with such activity is that it dramatically alters the context, traditions, textures, and make up of the area. Older residents, many infirm or poor, with extensive histories in the community are offered cash sums to leave and others cannot stay as rents increase. The neighborhood out scales its original residents and they are no longer at home.

Immigrants have flocked to this area because of the African American populations and many are African and Caribbean. With the gentrification there are more middle income black families starting to live there. Pratt Institute draws, as a school of exceptional higher learning in the arts, a community of paying students, faculty and others to the area.

while some changes, especially in crime rates, are desirable in most lower-income neighborhoods, Bedford Stuyvesant rentals and their prices may indicate that this once historically poor and black neighborhood is rapidly changing and becoming a place where many African-Americans are no longer at home. It is not sustainable thinking to displace older residents and people with disabilities.




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