Report shows hipsters and gentrification are driving Hispanics out of Brooklyn

Gentrification is having very real effects on Hispanic populations in Brooklyn according to a report by the National Institute of Latino Policy (NILP).

While the amount of Hispanic New Yorkers is still rising, as the New York Post notes, “from 2,428,756 in 2013 to 2,489,090 in 2016,” in Brooklyn neighborhoods like Bushwick and Williamsburg, Hispanics are being forced out.

Angelo Falcón, NILP president, claimed the Hispanic population in Brooklyn has dropped 1.6 percent, from around 513,242 to an estimated 505,183 last year.

Falcón explained the reduction to the New York Post,

“Falcón claims that escalating housing costs — spurred by gentrification — have driven lower-income Hispanics out of once predominately Latino neighborhoods of Bushwick, Williamsburg and Sunset Park. Puerto Ricans, in particular, had a strong presence in those areas.”

In the last 13 years, the Hispanic community has shrunk 13 percent in Bushwick and fallen 16 percent over a similar period in Williamsburg.

Falcón told the Post that this is a worrying trend,

“This provides a disturbing window into the possible future of the city’s Latino population if the city’s affordable-housing program does not take into account community calls for much deeper affordability than is currently being planned.”

It can be hard to quantify the real-life effects of gentrification and demographic change, but data over a fifteen year period demonstrates that the last decade and a half has caused a mass exodus of Hispanic populations out of neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Bushwick.

This is disturbing data for the Hispanic community and New Yorkers at large. As gentrification continues to change the face of New York, solutions are required as the City risks becoming more segregated and homogeneous.

It would be encouraging to see some sort of legislation introduced to halt the tide of gentrification and rising housing prices in traditionally working class neighborhoods.

De Blas, where you at?