Our first episode takes listeners to Crown Heights, a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in central Brooklyn, where two high rise residential towers threaten to block the sunlight upon which the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s greenhouses rely. Rents are rising fast in Crown Heights, and affordable housing is increasingly hard to find, but will community members welcome more housing even if it comes at the expense of a thriving botanic garden?

Additional Reading:

• Supply Skepticism: Housing Supply and Affordability (Vicki Been, Ingrid Gould Ellen, Katherine O’Regan)
• City NIMBYs (Vicki Been)

The post Crown Heights – Franklin Avenue appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Our second episode focuses on Haven Green, an affordable housing development for older adults who have experienced homelessness proposed for the current site of the Elizabeth Street Garden. How can communities
balance the need for housing with the need for green space when both are at a premium? How does New York City’s urban land use review processensure, or not, that the city takes many perspectives into account? Do wealthy neighborhoods like Soho have the duty to welcome new development and share their amenities with lower-income households?

Additional Reading:

• Neighborhood Defenders (Katherine Levine Einstein)
• The Effects of Exposure to Better Neighborhoods on Children (Raj Chetty, Nathanial Hendren, Lawrence F. Katz, Opportunity Atlas)
• Strategies to Boost Housing Production in the New York City Metropolitan Area (Citizens Budget Commission)

The post Soho -Elizabeth Street Garden appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Our third episode revolves around Industry City, a large shopping complex in Sunset Park, that is poised to increase its square footage from 5.3 to 6.6 million square feet as part of a comprehensive rezoning. Developers believe the rezoning will bring new jobs, while residents fear those new opportunities will attract wealthier households and displace a part of Brooklyn many hold dear. Do new jobs and commercial activity lead to gentrification and displacement?

Correction: This episode cites a statistic that 57 percent of current workers at Industry City are from Sunset Park. In fact, 57 percent are residents of Brooklyn, as reported by an HR&A Analysis in 2017.

Additional Reading:

• Making Sense of Incentives: Taming Business Incentives to Promote Prosperity (Tim Bartik, Upjohn Institute)
• Who’s to blame for high housing costs? It’s more complicated than you think. (Jenny Schuetz, Brookings Institution)
• Workforce Housing and Middle Income Housing Subsidies: A Primer (Jenny Schuetz, Brookings Institution)

The post Sunset Park-Industry City appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Our final episode focuses on Inwood, one of the last affordable neighborhoods in Manhattan. The Inwood rezoning has faced community scrutiny and legal challenge since it was proposed in 2018, and its future remains uncertain. When a city with a scarcity of housing can’t build more, what happens? How can communities ensure their neighborhoods will stay affordable if wealthier households will move in regardless of whether or not there is new development?

Additional Reading:

• Does gentrification displace poor children and their families? (Kacie Dragan, Ingrid Gould Ellen, Sherry Glied)
• Do New Housing Units in Your Backyard Raise Your Rents? (Xiaodi Li)
• The Effect of New Market-Rate Housing Construction on the Low-Income Housing Market (Evan Mast, Upjohn Institute)

Homepage photo courtesy of AMNY

The post Inwood appeared first on Pavement Pieces.