Does anyone here have any thoughts / sources / evidentiary examples of how the subprime fiasco is interacting with gentrification?
I am sure the inflation of real estate prices and the construction bubble via the proliferation of predatory loans helped heat urban redevelopment projects in areas typically referred to as gentrifying or gentrified...and fueled the creative cities kind of make-over projects...
But how much are these being affected by the credit contraction?
Maybe a new york example in the works is Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards mega development in Brooklyn, including "world class center" "community benefits" "market-rate and affordable housing" the inevitable frank gehry, a sports center named for Barclays Bank... etc. I'm sure you new yorkers are very familiar with it.
The website http://www.atlanticyards.com/html/benefits/housing.html says:
The Atlantic Yards development will help alleviate this problem by adding 6,430 units of mixed-income housing. Of the 6,430 housing units, 1,930 will be market-rate condominiums, and 4,500 will be rental units. Fifty percent of the rental units will be set aside for middle- and low-income families, with target rents for these units set at 30 percent of household income. Additionally, at least 200 ownership units on-site will be dedicated for ownership by low-, moderate- and middle-income individuals and families.
This unique housing initiative was developed with the nonprofit advocacy group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). FCRC has also agreed to build 600 to 1,000 affordable ownership units dedicated to low- and moderate-income families, either on- or off-site, with a minimum of 200 of those on-site.
(And what is the deal with ACORN? are they totally corrupt now or really doing something here?)
Not to focus too much on the high profile prestige projects, i'm also interested in how the subprime sweep is gumming up the general progress of neoliberal transformation of urban areas.
And if this post is daft, i appreciate any input as i am an interloper in the foyer of economic specialization.
thanks, claire