Denver saw more widespread gentrification than any other U.S. metro area except San Francisco between 2013 and 2017, according to a recent study.
For some people who have been battling rising inequality and runaway home prices in the Mile High City in recent years, the findings are unsurprising. And they expect the coronavirus pandemic to make things even harder for low-income residents in vulnerable neighborhoods.
“It feels like it’s validating information, because this is what we’ve been saying all along,” Denver City Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca said.
The research comes from the Washington, D.C.-based National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
The study examined more than 10,600 neighborhoods in U.S. cities that researchers classified as “eligible to gentrify.” That means that home values and incomes in those areas were below the 40th percentile nationally. Of these areas, 954 neighborhoods experienced gentrification from 2013 to 2017. Researchers tracked changes in income, home value and the percentage of residents who had obtained college degrees.
Of the 80 neighborhoods in the Denver-Aurora area that met eligibility criteria, 22 gentrified during the study period, 27.5%. That’s a higher rate than in any other U.S. metro other than San Francisco-Oakland (31.3%) and ahead of No. 3 Boston by more than 6 percentage points.
While rising incomes, home values, and college attainment rates are positives, pushing back on gentrification has become a focus for many people demanding racial justice in America because of its disproportionate negative effects on people of color. Those rising metrics are less a demonstration that life is improving for the longtime residents than that rising property values, rising property tax bills and other pressures are pushing out low- and moderate-income residents as more affluent new arrivals move into the neighborhood.
Katie Leonard, who spoke on the Colorado Capitol steps June 1 as part of the wave of protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, called gentrification “systemic racism in action.”
“It’s the building of white space,” Leonard said.
On a national scale, gentrification disproportionately took place in neighborhoods where white people are the minority, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s research. People of color made up 77% of the population in gentrifying neighborhoods. The influx of new money cuts back on affordable housing options in those areas, leading to the displacement of low- and moderate-income residents, researchers wrote.
A map in the coalition’s study shows that most gentrifying areas are in the northern and western portions of Denver — areas that have historically been home to many people of color after racist housing policies barred them from other parts of the city.
The Urban Land Conservancy, a Denver-based affordable housing nonprofit, greeted the city’s high ranking on the list with a news release last week acknowledging that it and other organizations have a lot of work ahead to prevent the worst effects of gentrification. Jesse Van Tol, the CEO of the national coalition, pointed out in the conservancy’s release that Denver ranked 18th for gentrification between 2000 and 2013.
“With COVID-19 causing economic hardships for millions of Americans, the work of Urban Land Conservancy is even more vital for low- and moderate-income communities facing displacement in and around the city,” Van Tol said in the statement.
The 2013-2017 study period overlaps with the tenure of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.
Hancock, in an emailed statement, touted his administration’s efforts when it comes to providing more affordable housing in the city, raising wages for low-income workers and combating displacement.
“This pandemic has created renewed urgency around this challenge and I remain committed to mitigating displacement in our neighborhoods while helping our residents with the support they need to better afford the city they helped shape,” Hancock said in the statement.
CdeBaca, who has been sharply critical of Hancock’s administration, noted that the last few years were supposed to be a period of unprecedented investment in affordable housing in Denver. The city’s affordable housing fund — championed by Hancock and fed by a linkage fee on new development — has not lived up to expectations, she siad.
The councilwoman and her staff have also been highly critical of Opportunity Zones, the federal program created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that allows investors in designated low- to moderate-income areas to defer capital gains taxes. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition study found that while Opportunity Zones were typically areas in desperate need of reinvestment, they are vulnerable to being a tool of gentrification and the act fails to outline metrics for measuring if new investment betters the lives of the people who live within their boundaries.
CdeBaca lived in Washington, D.C. — the city ranked No. 1 for gentrification by the coalition in its look at 2000 to 2012 data — and said that when she moved back to Denver she saw the same things happening here “on fast forward.” She holds up her Elyria Swansea neighborhood as a prime example of an area that is vulnerable to the destructive forces of gentrification.
She expects the COVID-19 pandemic and the damage it is doing to government budgets to speed up the process as residents and local businesses struggle to access support.
“Gentrification was possible because of government disinvestment, because of segregation that made land cheaper for the speculators or anyone on the outside when they wanted to come in and take it over,” CdeBaca said. “Now, when the government has nothing to invest for anybody, there‘s no way that people who need it the most are going to get it.”
