Assistant Dean of Administration
Associate Professor
Howard University School of Social Work
Director, Multidisciplinary Gerontology Center
601 Howard Place, NW, # 220
Washington, DC 20059
robert.cosby@howard.edu
tel. - 202-806-4739 
mobile - 202-494-1060

https://academic.oup.com/book/51677/chapter-abstract/419708640?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Introduction

The chapter's information is offered to help elucidate how gentrification has evolved.  The impact of gentrification on Social Work has not been widely discussed (Thurber, 2021), and is  mainly seen through the clients and the people that Social Workers serve.  The use of terms Black and African American are used interchangeably. Gentrification has evolved but continues to show at its core examples and links to inequities in power, oppression, government sanctions, and implicit and explicit bias.  These biases have coalesced to form systemic racism that has played a role with gentrification in Washington, DC. 

Homeownership, financial stability, and generational wealth are important goals for most families in the United States.  Oral histories of African Americans, legal records, and oppressive practices against African Americans elucidate how these goals have been denied because of systemic racism in Washington, District of Columbia (DC).  The oppressive practices have compounded for many years, to deter African Americans from attaining generational wealth, home ownership, and financial stability.  The history of Gentrification needs to be shared and understood by social workers and all those in helping professions.  History reveals oppression and power through subtle and overt ways that include the loss and robbery of culture forced upon African Americans.  Cumulatively, this oppression has denied African Americans the benefits of generational wealth, in laws and policies from the highest levels of government down to the individual in the District.  The District of Columbia has historically wrestled with challenges of Congressional oversight because US Congress can "exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever" (over the federal District of Columbia according to the US Constitution, Article 1; Section 8; Clause 17 (Fauntroy, 2003). So, US Congress can mettle in the affairs of the District. Gentrification is tied to a history of racism in Washington, DC (King, 2022; Summer, 2020 & Boyd, 1996).  To better understand how race and racism have negatively affected Blacks, one must understand that race and racism are social constructs that have shaped people's lives (Smedley, 2005).  History reveals that the foundation of racism has evolved from slavery and its aftermath.  Slavery helped economically to build this country (Genovese, 1976).  The benefits have been tied to laws, money, policies, and practices enacted by those in power at the federal, state, and local levels since the 1700s (Prince, 2016).  The continued oppression with government legal sanctions has provided privilege and benefits of generational wealth for some.  These benefits have led to gentrification and the economic advancement of one group at the expense of another.  As a result in small or large part, the process of gentrification exists in many states across the United States, including the District of Columbia.  Black people have been and continue to be oppressed and pushed out of generational wealth and housing opportunities like gentrification.  

Limitations for Blacks and the Washington Black Codes

In the history of Housing ownership in the US, racism has been pervasive (King, 2022).  Racism and indifference perpetrated by Federal, State, and local governments created impediments for Blacks.  These impediments in the 1800s included  ’Black Codes’ that prohibited Blacks from owning and operating many businesses including eating establishments and taverns.  One sanctioned trade involved driving horse-drawn carts or carriages ​ (Provine, 1973).  Black Codes or Laws existed in many states in the US between 1830 and 1865 (Middleton, 2020).  The Black Laws of the North and the Black Codes of the South were laws designed to enforce slavery, and prevent Whites, Mulattoes, freed slaves, etc., from interfering with slavery, including re-capturing runaway slaves regardless of abolitionist beliefs (Middleton, 2020).  The laws included fines and or imprisonment for those that interfered with slavery.

To illustrate how the Black Laws impacted Blacks, free, and indentured slaves, consider the following example: In Washington, DC, and the Southern States south of the Mason Dixon line in 1835, “the Black Codes” were, in fact, criminal and civil laws governing both slave and free African Americans (Middleton, 2020).  At that time, there was a curfew whereby a free black person had to be home by10 p.m.  If the Police caught them after, a White person had to post a bond of $500 guaranteeing the good behavior of the Black male or female.  Black Codes were copied or inherited from Maryland and Virginia (Pulliam, 1835). 

Gentrification, directly and indirectly, benefited Whites because Blacks’ labor enhanced Whites ‘economic position.  Whites' in turn, were able to pass on their advantage of wealth through generational wealth and the benefits of inheritance to their offspring.  Over time cheap Black labor further enhanced White family wealth by consolidating and accumulating White assets and future opportunities. 

In the 1865-1869 period, US President Andrew Johnson, a Southerner and Confederate sympathizer, returned most of the Southern land secured by the Union troops during the Civil War to the losing Southern Confederates (eleven States).  Southern land owners continued from pre- to post-Civil War periods to build political and economic wealth for Whites by selling cotton, rice, and tobacco (Ransom, 1989).  Cheap laborers were called slaves before the Civil War, and Black sharecroppers after the Civil War.  Whites retained power economically and politically, provided they maintained a cheap workforce (Wineapple, 2019; Gates, 2020; Levine, 2021).  First, the wealth of plantation owners, including those in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia, built their assets from slavery.  Second, they continued building wealth after the Civil War by using uneducated and poorly educated emancipated Blacks as cheap labor.  White families, as former plantation owners now farmers, merchants, and profiteers, were often more educated than slaves and took advantage as slaves were forbidden from learning to read or receive any education.  These practices enabled Whites to maximize their resources with local and state racist policies and practices designed to legally 'enslave' and oppress Blacks (Wineapple, 2019).  Such policies and practices included forced ‘contracts or agreements’ for sharecropping and other forced labor, restricted housing and education, and other mandates.  All were designed to maintain a cheap workforce.  Whites used these labor agreements that, in effect, chained Blacks to the land and kept them there with Jim Crow laws (Gates, 2020, Lewis, 2001).  These actions further oppressed Blacks over decades by minimizing formal education and impeding better employment and housing opportunities (Levine, 2021).   By the late 1860s through 1950s, Black families sought new opportunities in places like Washington, DC, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City (Wilkerson, 2020).  The goal of a better life for Blacks through better employment was a goal not always attained due in large part due to White oppression (Gates, 2020 & Wilkerson, 2020).  Still, some Blacks successfully secured housing ownership and rental housing in Washington, DC, during Reconstruction and well into the 20^th century. 

Opportunities to Amass Wealth Taken From Blacks 

Buying a house has consistently been important for Black Washingtonians, like for many Americans, because buying a house was tied to the American Dream of success.  Opportunities for Blacks to acquire housing and become homeowners and business owners in Washington, DC, were primarily fueled by Black government workers’ incomes (Weems, 1998; Yellin, 2013).  By 1915, the number of Blacks in Washington, DC, had increased as they obtained federal jobs.  These jobs provided revenue, which helped fuel Black businesses and communities.  Black government workers had risen to almost five percent of the District workforce. (Weems, 1998).  President Woodrow Wilson is credited with establishing de Jure’ (by law) ‘racist policies and government regulations designed to demote Blacks stating no Blacks could supervise a White person.  These racist policies included employment and housing policies which added to the wealth of Whites at the expense of Blacks (Marshall, 2019).  

Federal Programs were introduced providing relief and support for Federal Workers. They included mortgages and social programs but less support for Black Federal Workers (Gooding, 2018).  “Early social benefits established powerful norms about who deserved aid, what form of aid should be given, and which public and private agencies should provide aid and why” (Jensen, 2005, p.23).  Hayward (2013) explains how these policies and actions led to "racialized spaces" for Blacks.  Despite these policies and economic downturn, black people living in Washington, DC, were resilient (Boyd, 2017).

During the Great Depression, beginning in 1934, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Administration campaigned on a platform to get Americans working again with its 'New Deal' programs.  Federal policies adopted or adapted to work at the State and local levels, from the Civil Conservation Corps, and the Works Progress Administration, to Social Security, to the mortgage lending market of banks, real estate agents, and brokers, were designed to stimulate the economy and get people back to work.  All the labor and housing efforts and community development were designed to help White communities recover (Taylor, 2013).  Such was the case for White Washingtonians.  However, Black Washingtonians were told to stand in line behind Whites.  The FDR policies did help some Blacks, but the racist policies continued consistently to create generational wealth for Whites while preventing Blacks from homeownership and generational wealth (Hawkins, 2020 & Feagin, 1999).After 1934 the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) established, and the Veterans Administration (VA) copied FHA discriminatory practices as a continuation of policies built on the FHA Underwriters Handbook for Banks, Real Estate Brokers, and Real Estate Agents (Rothstein, 2017).  So, when the VA copied the historical trend of institutional and systemic racism across the nation, they denied GIs of color from obtaining favorable financing through VA mortgage loans.

In effect, the Underwriter’s Handbook provided incentives and channeled wealth and the accumulation of wealth towards Whites and away from Blacks (Hayward, 2013).  Areas where Blacks lived in Washington, DC, were considered poor risks for securing federally backed mortgages and local construction, so in effect, lending in Black neighborhoods was forbidden.

"After the passage of the Housing Act of 1937, low-income public housing projects mushroomed in inner cities, replacing slums and consolidating "minority neighborhoods." Major road construction and suburbanization further segregated American cities.  At the same time, black Americans and other citizens of color found it extremely hard to qualify for home loans, as the FHA and the Veterans Administration's mortgage programs largely served only white applicants.  Those discriminatory practices prevented people of color from accumulating wealth through homeownership." (Williams, 2020) “Racial heterogeneity, in particular, was worrisome to the FHA. ... Employed.  84 8 H Federal Housing Administration, Underwriting Manual: Underwriting and Valuation Procedure Under Title II of the National Housing Act Washington, DC.  the US"(Mapping Segregation DC, 2022)

The document falsely detailed how Black housing area developments were poor investments and strongly suggested that Blacks ‘chose’ to live in squalid conditions.  Further, no federal FHA monies were to be loaned to Blacks, forcing them away from homeownership.  Alternatively, some Black persons chose to raise monies on their own or sought out Black-owned banks like Industrial Bank of Washington (Josiah, 2004) to provide mortgage loan financing.  Whites historically have been able to build financial nest eggs with federal support while FHA demonstrated how Blacks were denied  the same opportunities.  Over time this has created great generational wealth for one group.  

Defining Gentrification

Gentrification is known differently in the public and scholarly sectors (Zuk, 2015).  Planners, developers, and government officials see gentrification often as removing or upgrading antiquated or shabby housing in urban or rural settings, removing the lower-income renters or owners, and renewing or improving the spaces (Lees, 2010).  For a definition, gentrification builds upon the definitions offered by Sociologist Ruth Glass (1964) and Chris Hamnett (2000; 2003), involving a complex series of processes whereby more affluent, often middle-class people push out working-class people.  The property is financially improved, causing land, housing values, and prices to increase.  Hamnett (2000 & 2003) added a cultural component to the financial improvement concept of gentrification where the newer residents have a different appreciation of the new cultural norms, space, and environment. There is a cultural shift brought by the people moving in who bring with them more resources.  The shift is deeply felt by those pushed out, describing the older residents’ cultural norms as being discounted, removed, or forgotten (Robinson, 2022).  In effect, Gentrification is the process when new residents move into a neighborhood with or without intent and change the neighborhood’s cultural history, economic background, and foundation then re-brand it with new cultural names, history, and orientation.  There are many definitions used over the past five decades since Sociologist Ruth Glass (1964) coined the term "gentrification."  Added to that term are other sub-terms like rural gentrification, super-gentrification, and others.  All appear to have cultural and political methods to define and give purchase to communities (Zuk, 2015 & Kasinitz, 1988). 

Defining Gentrification and Understanding History of Racism in the District of Columbia

In 1964, Ruth Glass was the first to coin the term “gentrification,” and she defined the phenomenon in London, England. Glass argues that gentrification involves a process of an area that is adapted for refurbishment and revitalization of an urban space that results in the displacement of low-income people who previously lived there (Glass, 1964).  Another definition of gentrification used by the United Nations UN–Habitat's Leading Change: is "The process of social change that takes place in a neighborhood often previously occupied by low-income residents, as more affluent people move in" (UN-Habitat 2018, p. 5).

Systemic Racism Tied to Gentrification in Washington, DC.

 Throughout much of the US, and arguably until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s (Gates, 2020), even in the District, gentrification has been a growing economic, racial, policy, and social work issue.  However, social workers have written little about gentrification (Thurber, 2021).  Social Work practice, group work, community organizing, and advocacy have been active in Washington, DC communities.  As social workers explore solutions for the gentrification equation, more can be done with planning, research, and finding alternatives that promote affordable housing for all groups, particularly older adults.  

The impact of gentrification on housing and communities creates untenable situations for many Blacks in the District.  Historically, Whites have received disproportionate support from the government at the local, state, and federal levels.  The issue of racism over time and the economic and policy implications that continue to exacerbate the wealth gap between Blacks and Whites contribute to gentrification (Thurber, 2021; Koma, 2020 & Helmuth, 2019). In 1934 the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Administration introduced the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), tasked with providing housing to families recovering from losses due to the Depression (Hirsh, 2000). 

As stated, the FHA legally  fostered segregation and discrimination into our society and its public policy (Rothstein, 2017).  The impact was so great that by 1950, the FHA and VA were insuring half of all new mortgages nationwide (Rothstein, 2017, p 70).  DC Racial Covenants were also used as another way to exclude Blacks from White neighborhoods (Rose, 2016). Furthermore, these programs made it such that African Americans were significantly restricted from purchasing homes earmarked for Whites (Rothstein, 2017).  

The historical record of homeownership for Blacks is complex when you add the countless historical impediments from 1791 at the incorporation of Washington, DC, through the 20th and 21st centuries.  When coupled with fewer opportunities for Black homeownership, the opportunity to pass on wealth through generational wealth and inheritance is greatly diminished.  Thus, it should not be surprising that the primary path for Black families to the middle class is becoming narrower and rockier.  

A few recent statistics echo the impact of these government policies and practices’ long-term historical and economic outcomes, either explicitly or implicitly condoned at the Federal, State, and Local levels (Thompson, 2022).  More recently, Whites and Asians receive lower mortgage rates than Blacks over 80 percent of the time (Desilver, 2017).  Homeownership rates in Washington, DC for Whites are 50.3% vs.35.2% for Blacks, but White homes are seven times the value of Black homes (Thompson, 2022).  Blacks remain twice as likely to be denied a housing loan.  Homeownership rates for Blacks remain the lowest of all racial groups in the US (Snowden, 2022).  The information suggests that there is little generational wealth for Blacks.  According to the US Census Bureau, the rate of African American homeownership nationally was 44.1% at the close of 2020, while the rate of white homeownership was 74.5%, proof of the widening gap (Thompson, 2022).  So, in the end, the historical path to the gentrification of generational wealth is fueled by resources that one group has and the other does not (Weller & Roberts, 2021).  Gentrification removes affordable housing in places like Washington, DC, and affordable housing stock diminishes over time as higher-priced private renters and homeowners replace it. 

The process of gentrification is deeply rooted in dynamic change and economic trends.  The effects and the associated trajectories are, to a large degree, determined by policies (Weller, 2021) and each community's local context.  In the District of Columbia, this context requires that we review the historical layers of oppression, specifically, the physical and social characteristics of the neighborhoods and communities where gentrification has occurred.  Helbrecht (2017) speaks to the economic induced displacement, consequent loss of place, and the rising resistance (by people being displaced) in reaction to what is imposed by gentrification.  Critical Race Theory (CRT) is one theory used to "contextualize the continued role that race plays in the lives of African Americans and other people of color who are not often privileged by mainstream educational, cultural, political, and economic opportunities" (Lawson-Borders, 2019).

Older adults residing in these newly gentrified communities, such as Washington, DC, are at risk for poor outcomes (Crewe, 2017; Smith, 2020).  Persons at risk may be so due to race, class, and racism.  Older adults are on fixed incomes.  Many lower-income older African Americans adults in the District , have had to address long histories of racism, many of whom are Black, suggesting there is an impact of racism in gentrification (Prince, 2016).  Gentrification affects poorer communities and transforms them globally into more palatable residences for the resourced middle and upper classes.  The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic also negatively impacted African Americans by accelerating gentrification as family members lost jobs, mainly in the service sectors, affecting rent and mortgage payments (Cole, 2020 & Gould, 2020).  Historically, when the US economy rebounds from a crisis, the racial gaps in income, home equity, and wealth do not shrink (Neal & McCargo, 2020).

In the United States, the result of gentrification is that some groups, such as working-class or out-of-work African Americans in Washington, DC, cannot afford to stay in their communities (Hannah-Jones, 2020).  Some may have lived in the same block for generations.  New gentrified residents provide significant initial investment and demand that government provides additional resources.  Such resources result in walkable communities with safer streets, better access to public works, improved sanitation, newly resourced schools, parks (for animals and people), restaurants/bars, and grocery stores (Rice, 2020).  Most people want these community assets, but the opportunities are not equivalent for persons of color.  Typically, they are under-resourced and of lower socioeconomic status.  In turn, the gentrified newer community members enjoy safer, more scenic, refurbished communities and increased property values.

More recent attention is now focused on homelessness from lack of employment, gentrification, and health-related community issues such as mental health and substance abuse needs that go unmet or are marginally met (KFF, 2021).  The District of Columbia Government is showing more recent examples of curtailing homelessness.  Gentrification will present more formidable challenges with the increasing numbers of homeless.

Specific to Washington, DC, based on informal focus groups and discussions among older District of Columbia residents, there is great concern that gentrification has already caused and continues to cause dramatic changes to communities in several parts of the District (Gentry conversation, 2021).  District of Columbia government representatives (including the Mayor and members of the District of Columbia Council, (the legislative body equivalent to a state legislature) have stated that they are looking harder at the gentrification of neighborhoods and ways of slowing the gentrification issues that negatively affect communities (Bowser, 2022).  However, there is a dilemma in creating the right balance of higher-income housing while maintaining or increasing affordable housing stock.

It is well known that where one lives can determine the character and availability of social resources (Tigges, 1998 & Glass, 2003).  The Multidisciplinary Gerontology Center (MGC) at Howard University School of Social Work serves as a conduit for establishing interdisciplinary scientific pursuits that enhance the understanding of gentrification and its impact on Blacks, particularly older Blacks.  The Howard University Multidisciplinary Gerontology Center (HUMGC) faculty have observed how gentrification has impacted Washingtonians.  Crewe (2017) further discusses the impact on older African Americans, their families, caregivers, and the loss and displacement of family members.  

The effects of gentrification suggest that many of whom are now older are experiencing, as are their families, mental health strains because they are economically vulnerable and culturally stressed (Versey, 2019).  Often Social Workers must network or explore ways to help clients achieve needed goals, such as housing due to gentrification, or otherwise work to meet the needs of their clients, such as working with older adults to address advocacy and group issues or broader community, organization, planning, or policy (Cox, 2017& 2020).  Between 2013 and 2015, over 26,000 Black low-income renters in Washington, DC, were spending over 50% of their income on rent (Gillette, 2020).  The role of the Social Worker continues to be one of examining the neighborhood residents before and after gentrification and looking at the relationships.  One can see where oppression has removed the communities of one group and helped promote and sustain another.  Typically, Social Workers meet the client, listen to their story and examine and assess the client's needs.  In so doing, Social Workers look for positive interaction with the client and identify and work to develop interventions that will be sustained at least long enough to help the client meet their basic needs.  Since 1995, District delinquent property tax rules have favored businesses and persons able to pay taxes over those that cannot or struggle to pay due to being under-resourced.  The District Delinquent Tax Code (Council of DC Code § 47–1301. Delinquent taxes are designed to collect tax monies.—it states "List; notice of sale; public auction.  § 47–1304.  Real property tax assignment; sale and transfers — Deposit required; certificate of sale; tax deed; redemption.

(a) The Collector of Taxes shall require from every purchaser of property sold as aforesaid a deposit sufficient, in his judgment, to guarantee a full and final settlement for such purchase.  Every purchaser other than the District of Columbia at any sale of property as aforesaid shall pay the total amount of his bid, including surplus, if any, to the Collector of Taxes within five business days after the last day of sale, and in case such payment is not made within the time specified the deposit of the person so failing to make payment shall be forfeited to the District of Columbia, and said Collector of Taxes should then issue the certificate of sale for such property to the next highest bidder, and if payment of the amount of the bid of said next highest bidder is not made within two business days thereafter, the Mayor of the District of Columbia shall set aside both sales for which the bids were made; and the said Collector of Taxes shall thereupon be held to have bid the amount due on the said lot and to have purchased it for the District."  (§ 47–1301).  Delinquent taxes, 1995, DC Code of Law (1995).

Foreclosure and Delinquent Tax auctions are another way wealth are transferred from African American families who may be house rich but cash poor (Kingsley, 2009).  African American families often cannot pay increased property taxes in Washington, DC. The District legally seize the properties, and the District then auctions the properties to the highest bidder.  The dates for the sales of these properties identified in the DC code (§ 47–1301. Delinquent taxes) are shared and publicized in the Washington Post and Washington Times as dictated in the DC code of law.  Among African Americans, there are many uninformed persons, often older individuals, who own property(ies) with a tax lien and soon to become foreclosed property.  Typically, the older owners holding the deed and their family members do not have the money to pay the taxes nor enough to retain counsel to represent them for advice, services, or potential litigation.  In the District, these persons caught in this tax delinquent process are often African Americans, and more specifically, older African Americans (Karl, 2017).  (DC Office of Tax and Revenue, 2022 & Council of DC, 2022).          

The Delinquent Tax sell-off of debt practice ensures that large parcels of property are sold, and the city receives its delinquent tax revenue more readily from a few interested parties.  Many enterprising and entrepreneurial investors benefit, along with other potential homebuyers eager to become District homeowners.  The sale of delinquent properties is called a Real Property Tax Sale hosted by the DC Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) OTR typically on or about July 19 of each year,  consistent with DC Code.  The OTR publishes the notices of delinquent properties with addresses and outstanding liabilities with clear information on the methods of payment required.  In the DC Code § 47–1301, such individual third parties and groups are willing to pay the government for tax owed and then foreclose on the delinquent tax homeowner.  Essentially, having liquid assets to pay the outstanding liability balance quickly shift ownership from poorer African Americans to more affluent Whites.  Many African American homeowners in Washington, DC, who owe delinquent taxes either, do not have money to pay the assessed tax or have ignored the tax documents or bills until the mounting fines and interest accumulate.  The District of Columbia government forecloses or enforces a lien on their property (DC Office of Tax and Revenue, 2022).    

The homeownership rate for African Americans remains the lowest among all racial groups in the United States, and the gap is widening ( HUD-PD & R Edge, 2021).  In the District there are many older African American home and apartment renters owners who are displaced when the owners sell the properties (Brown, 2019).  Black families may not have enough liquid assets such as cash needed for auction bidding, much less final payment.  As stated earlier, the average amount of liquid assets for Black families is approximately $2,100, vs. White Families is approximately $65,000 (Thompson, 2022).  Thus, the system provides an excellent opportunity for those with significant liquid assets, who can use the electronic online information to review and decide on specific properties to bid on, resulting in older African American homeowners losing their homes (Hyra, 2017).  The challenges associated with gentrification for the older African American adults have shown that there may be an enduring impact of slavery, where families have broken apart, and individuals sold, perpetuates the fear of residential displacement in more modern times.  Generational family, community, and social ties may also be affected (Hinds et al., 2018).  These challenges further contribute to the experience of financial stress and affect the older adult's overall health (Lim, 2017).  

Complications of Gentrification

Mr. Rodger Robinson, a long-time Black older Washingtonian, shared that his efforts 

to help people in the community have been greatly complicated by gentrification (Robinson, 2022).  He recalled, before the housing boom of the early 2000s, how the Crack Cocaine epidemic in Washington, DC, destroyed a generation of young Blacks.  Many people started to move out of neighborhoods or out of Washington.  He said:

"I remember them days.  You could practically move into a house for little or nothing.  The city started to board up abandoned houses, and if you could move in and help transform the neighborhood and keep the crack addicts out, you were cool."…" Those crack boys would move into a house and light a fire on the floor to keep warm in the winter, and sometimes the house would burn down."…  "Now, they (Whites) are gentrifying whole blocks.  I do not have any written proof of that, but that is what I see" (Robinson, 2022).  

The history of gentrification has shown that older and younger individuals have been displaced as wealthier groups, often with tacit or more overt approval, change communities in the District and around the US (Thurber, 2021; Crewe, 2017; Jackson, 2015).  

Shift in Communities 

The Shaw, Le Droit Park, and Bloomingdale section of NW Washington, DC, has struggled with gentrification, identity, race, and class and re-branding itself as separated and distinct.  Bloomingdale, once all white, has again sought to separate itself from Shaw – Le Droit Park seen as more Black (but changing).  Founded in the 1870s, these historic areas included cottages that housed Howard University faculty and staff and other Black working class and middle-class individuals and families.  Over time the area has changed.  Over the past three decades,  the neighborhoods have evolved from a Black two-parent household community between the post-WWII through the 1970s (Brown, 2019).  The communities have survived the brokenness of high drug and crime areas.  Many people moved out of these neighborhoods for safety reasons, leaving a mix of safe and unsafe streets.  The community banded together in the 1980s and 1990s, whereby residents gathered for evening street foot patrol duty where they would don reflective orange bands and hats to walk, observe and report during the 1980s and 1990s (Kim, 2013).  Some gentrified people question whether Howard University (founded in 1867) should move to another area so that the young white community that moved in the late 2010 – the 2020s could be more comfortable.  These three communities were part of the same area, once a rich mixture of Black culture with Howard University employees, retirees, and students with other working families.  The three areas are re-branding themselves as hip new, younger, upwardly mobile middle class predominantly white communities. 

The area property values continue to rise with a new McMillan Park adjoining the Bloomingdale section, with mixed-use, retail, housing, and recreation built to take the place of land bordering the McMillan Reservoir.  Over the years, a few older African Americans have shared their experiences.  Mr. Horace Cocroft was part of the northern and mid-western migration of Blacks who migrated from the rural South for better opportunities,  leaving Jim Crow.  Mr. Cocroft moved from rural Mississippi in the 1940s and lived much of his adult life in Washington, DC.  He worked as a US postal worker, a Federal Government accountant, and a US Department of Education manager.  Later, after retirement, he worked as a Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) volunteer coordinator.  He shared that many Black families were forced out of their homes in specific neighborhoods in Washington, DC, because of oppressive practices such as eminent domain. 

Understanding Eminent Domain 

Eminent domain has aided the oppression of African Americans who owned land across the nation.  From a legal perspective, the practice of eminent domain continues to be used by Federal, state, and local governments as an effective tool for urban planning that often involves race and class.  The relevant issues start with whether the person owning the parcel or house wants to move.  If compelled to move by law because their property is condemned with eminent domain, what will be the compensation, and the method used to compute compensation (Schill, 1988; Meidinger, 1980).  Eminent domain as a legal process includes condemning land and securing it for government purposes.  The legal government purpose has been used several times in the District of Columbia to remove Blacks from land.  The government seizes the land for the 'broader public good' (Meidinger, 1980).  For example, District lands were seized at the end of the Civil War, in 1865, in the 1920s, in 1939, 1945, 1954, 1960s, and again in the early 2000s (Card, 2018; Cooke, 2017). In the 1950s and 1960s, officials designated specific parcels of DC land for appropriation, one of the most powerful being in an area called Buzzard's Point, SW, Washington, DC (Card, 2018; Cooke, 2017).  These properties were marked for "urban renewal."  Congress used the District as its laboratory for methods of removing ‘slums’ and promoting urban renewal. More recently, in 2005, eminent domain was used to obtain the land needed to build a Major League Baseball stadium (now 41,000-seat Nationals Park).  The demolition and new construction once again ignited the issues of gentrification of the SE-SW area of Washington, DC (Nakamura, 2005).

The statutory authority and use of the eminent domain in DC are explained and codified in the Code of the District of Columbia.  The laws can be found in chapter 13, title 16, of the DC Code, beginning with § 16-1301., with the right to file a motion in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.  In 1954 the Southwest DC case became part of the 1954 

US Supreme Court decision Berman v. Parker, which stated that eminent domain condemnations were constitutional.  The government authority decision was challenged by the Kelo v. New London decision (Cohen, 2005), which held or supported the earlier Berman v Parker decision and made it harder for private owners to fight eminent domain condemnations.  The point here is that the eminent domain housing law favors the government based on two prior Supreme Court decisions.  Black owners have not garnered enough support and successfully sued the US and District governments in any eminent domain cases.  There is an element of racism and classism in the government decisions.  First, the homes are identified, condemned, and land is seized.  Second, the government assumes that there will not be forceful opposition as there might be in more wealthy neighborhoods.  Third, the residents are forced to move with few affordable housing options, and little compensation is offered.  Fourth is the question ‘if there was no money available for improvements for the older community, why do they find the money for significant improvements and investments for the newer residents?’  

Urban Renewal and Restrictive Covenants

Historically, when looking at communities such as those in Southwest Washington, DC, the Urban Renewal Project of the 1950s was publicized and sold as a Congressional demonstration project showcasing what is possible with a major improvement to the District. 

The improvements included what (von Hoffman, 2008) called removing slums and replacing them with modernized health safety projects (Spellmeyer, 2020; Teaford, 2000).  The Southwest DC Urban Renewal in Washington, DC, became the model for the rest of the nation and specifically displaced Black families.  Ninety percent of low-income housing destroyed during Urban Renewal in the District was not replaced with more low-income housing (Lipsitz, 1995).  Instead, gentrification and Urban Renewal projects have been significant stressors on Black families and older African Americans because of the loss of stable wholesome housing and environment and the potential for being homeless.  In part, families were displaced with virtually no opportunity to return to the neighborhood because it took so long to complete the DC Southwest project.  The displaced Black residents had to find other permanent housing.  Few persons of color moved back into the newer community.  Whether by design or mistake, immediately before the start of the SW Urban Renewal Project, 70 percent of the earlier residents were Black.  After the completion of the Urban Renewal Project, some 20 years after its start, 70 percent of the SW residents were White (Gillette, 2020).  In Washington, DC, as a whole, in the same period, the number of White residents in the District was shrinking, as the number of Blacks increased across the city to approximately 70 percent Black (Gillette, 2020).  One may ask if the delay and re-populating change were due to systemic racism.  (King, 2022 & Feagin, 2013).  After the passage of the American Housing Act of 1949 (AHA) (Pub. L. 81–171) (Keating, 2000), the landscape of Washington, DC, changed as mortgages were harder to obtain for Black residents. Added to this was the practice of restrictive or racial covenants (Rothstien, 2017). Restrictive covenants are legal agreements put in place by builders and homeowners associations that prohibit Blacks from moving into White neighborhoods. The covenants are found all over the U.S and are still in place in many sections of Washington, DC. Whites have fought to keep Blacks out of ‘their’ communities suggesting that White neighbors were protecting their investments by prohibiting Blacks from moving in which would diminish their property values. Further, Blacks would not qualify for home ownership because of these joint local and federal regulations designed to exclude them (Rothstein, 2017 & Mapping Segregation in DC, 2022).  These policies became further entrenched in systemic racism as Real Estate Brokers and Agents acting on their own biases further promoted segregation and steered mortgages and favorable properties to Whites while denying Blacks similar opportunities (Spellmeyer, 2020; Hyra, 2017 & Rothstein, 2017).  Over time this history has repeatedly led us to another aspect of gentrification, the removal of culture and displaced residents' history.       

Gentrification and the Removal of Culture and Displaced Residents’ History        

As one group of persons moves out of a neighborhood, there is typically no formal mechanism for preserving the displaced group's culture and history.  In addition, as the community culture and community members changed, the displaced persons often lost contact with other displaced community members as they moved out at different times and to different locations.  Moving out of a neighborhood is often done without formal notice (Hyra, 2017).  Maintaining contact with moving individuals is difficult as remembrances pass unrecognized.          

Social Workers and Gentrification

The District, was and remains a federal and local seat of executive, legislative, and judicial power and serves as home to many Whites and African Americans.  Housing from the 1860s until 1968 remained segregated and unequal in Washington, DC (Murphy, 2018, & Hyra, 2017).   District communities are trending again to be more segregated and unequal.  The National Community Reinvestment Coalition, DC Humanities Council, and others with Social workers have listened to stories of people describing where they worked and went to school and the Washington, DC, housing and neighborhoods in which they lived (Richardson, 2019).  However, there have been gaps in the literature detailing whether and how Social Workers have helped combat gentrification in Washington, DC.  Residents have also spoken about the loss of Black neighborhoods and the cultural shift due to gentrification.  As older African Americans work through the trauma associated with displacement, they must address their psychic pain and perhaps anger in many cases, including the racist manner in which they were treated as part of the gentrification process (Williams, 2020).  More resourced groups of predominantly younger Whites are relocating Blacks in most quadrants of the District (Hyra, 2017, Holt, 2021 & Prince, 2016). 

Lost Opportunities

Housing for Blacks was further impacted by the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (Massey, 2015).  Although Fair Housing regulation was mandated, the wealth associated with home ownership from previous policies was skewed in favor of Whites.  In the District, Black homes are worth one-seventh, or less than fifteen percent of the average White Home (Kijakazi, 2016).  Some suggest that despite White disproportionate gains, neither they nor the government is racist (Hannah-Jones, 2021).  However, in many cases, older African Americans have seen how resource-rich differs significantly from resource-poor individuals and families (Oliver, 2013).  When one group has systematically benefited from generational wealth, added resources can make gentrification easier for the new neighbors.  Gentrified wealth can disproportionately negatively affect the group being pushed out (Jackson, 2015 & Holt, 2021). 

Systemic and Structural Racism Affects Gentrification and Government Resources

Black families have not rebounded from the housing policies that have oppressed and marginalized them, such as the FHA and VA policies and discriminatory real estate practices over many decades (Kimble, 2007). 

Locally, the lack of opportunities for improved education and employment in one racial community is contrasted with a more resourced community.  One can see how by-products of gentrification-generate Black pain (Hannah-Jones, 2021).  Gentrification can benefit neighborhoods by increasing the tax base, school resources,  property values, attracting upscale businesses, landscaping amenities, and property development (Martin, 2018 & Shaver, 2019).  City governments often incur additional costs with gentrification.  Local governments must provide more resources to these newer communities regarding city services, road improvements, public safety, anchor stores, and business and boutique stores.  However, as stated, the downside of gentrification is that the new residents bring benefits that change the neighborhood and have a disproportionately negative impact on typically less wealthy, more established homeowners and renters (often Black).  Gentrification causes the underclass, poor groups, and Blacks to relocate, often revealing that race and class are impacted by the process ( Richardson, 2019). ​

Implications for Social Workers and Understanding Practice

 There are multiple opportunities for support in gentrified/gentrifying communities.  The work begins with meeting the disenfranchised where they are.  Optimal outcomes require interventions that may be beyond the client's resources, and in this case, older African Americans and their families.  It may be beyond the immediate abilities of the social worker to work to help the client find affordable housing.  However, with advocacy and other interactions, these interventions could include housing resource specialists at housing resource centers who can help older African Americans without many financial resources.  Success may include many at the intersection of housing and other social service delivery areas.  Collaborating to address workable solutions for some of the problems of gentrification should be a priority and perhaps can re-integrate the helping tradition of Black Families within communities (Billingsley, 1986 & Martin, 1985).  It is incumbent upon the social worker to first understand the needs of the African American older adult client as they assess the environment.  These needs will require research, policy analysis, fiscal policy development, and community support.  Relocation efforts in communities have not consistently helped older adults raising grandchildren or generations of families who struggle with competition for limited housing resources.

Derek Hyra and others state that Washington, DC, has changed from Chocolate City (predominantly Black) to a Cappuccino City (predominantly White) with fewer African Americans (Hyra, 2017).  The shift to more Whites owning property and living in DC  has occurred in a relatively short period (less than ten years), mainly because of changes in socioeconomic status that are evident across racial lines.  This shift to White ownership is consistent with statistics showing that Whites earn more than Blacks and have more savings on average.  These income and economic worth disparities are not improving (McIntosh, (2020).      

City governments do not consider poorly resourced older adults as significant stakeholders and do not often recognize poorer older African Americans as stakeholders.

 Communities and their elected leaders can do more to help the disenfranchised if they see the disenfranchised as indirect power stakeholders proxies with economic and political clout.  Achieving economic and political clout may, in part, be accomplished by social workers who can be those proxies for older African Americans and other disenfranchised groups.  From the author’s perspective Social Workers can organize people in ways that help bankers, elected officials, and finance experts understand the complexities of gentrification and potential homelessness.  The specifics of how to meet the multiple needs of vulnerable African Americans and, more specifically, older African Americans and how to care about their families are less well understood.  Such issues may include a better understanding of older African Americans' space needs, their income (most often fixed), and the opposing financial profitability of those individuals and groups generating wealth.           

Conclusion 

Racism is not new, nor is gentrification.  There is, nationally and in the District, a more significant and growing housing ownership gap between Whites and Blacks (Thompson, 2022).  The growing chasm between affordable housing and homeownership is cementing the future wealth of the District solidly with Whites. The growing gentrification phenomenon is pushing many blacks into becoming renters and some into homelessness. The District Government is just now able to intensify and address the impact of lost affordable housing for Blacks since 2000.  Gentrification has become a by-product of government actions historically linked to structural and systemic racism (Oliver, 2013 & Thompson, 2022).  It cannot be overstated that the significance of generational wealth show racial and class differences (Oliver, 2013 & Prince, 2016).               

Gentrification will continue in the District of Columbia and nationally, as home ownership is skewed towards those with resources.  The historic deprivation of housing opportunities continues to be linked to racial inequities for Blacks, particularly older Blacks in Washington, DC.  The growing gentrification phenomenon is now a national crisis.  For most families in the US, the home is their single most significant investment in generational wealth.  So, when they lose it, they receive no return on that investment (Longman, 2015).  

In short, the loss of Black ownership is directly proportional to structural and systemic racism at many levels of the federal and District of Columbia governments.  The trickle-down phenomenon of the government giving to some people while dismissing, delaying, and denying the rights and privileges of full US citizenship has hurt homeownership, generational wealth, and economic prosperity for Black Americans.  Blacks without ownership are renters or are homeless.  In such settings, they must seek family and outside support, such as the services of an agency or government support, often from Social Workers.  Blacks have been and continue to be negatively affected by the loss of generational wealth and home ownership.  There is limited fair competition in the marketplace with no remedy to these losses because one group already has significant assets. 

The issues of racism, oppression, and power remain at the forefront of gentrified Washington, DC communities.  Older Blacks share their stories with social workers of their life experiences and their efforts to overcome the emotional pain of racism that is associated with gentrification.  Overcoming gentrification and bias requires more than resilience.  Gentrification asks us whether we have a moral and ethical responsibility to do better by Black folk who have been historically maligned in many communities. Living the American Dream and living up to the ideals of the US Constitution depend on doing more to protect opportunity, equity, and equality for all.  

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