American University Magazine, MetroCentrered: Navigating Neighborhood Transition
Washington was the nation’s most intensely gentrified city between 2000 and 2013, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). Of 154 neighborhoods “eligible to gentrify”—those with median home values and household incomes below the 40th percentile—62 did based on increases in property values and college degree attainment. Although DC dropped to 13th in a follow-up study, NCRC notes that the city still has “a high intensity of gentrification.”
“Some people who stay in place don’t see the dog parks, upscale housing, and posh restaurants as being for them,” says Derek Hyra, SPA professor, MPC founding director, and author of Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City. “They feel excluded from their own communities.
