Sunset Park Is Primed For Gentrification, New Map Shows

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Soaring housing prices that have displaced Hispanic families from the neighborhood has already hit parts of Sunset Park, but other areas could be the next to be gentrified, a new interactive map shows.

The new map, released by nonprofit National Community Reinvestment Coalition, reveals that several blocks between 20th and 24th Street next to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway have already seen a displacement of the Hispanic population as housing prices more than tripled.

Other areas of the neighborhood, though, could be next to see the economic shift. Two other sections — one by the Brooklyn Army Terminal and another by the neighborhood's namesake park — were labeled gentrified and eligible for the shift to continue. A third, near the water between 47th and 54th Street, is "eligible for gentrfication," the report shows.

The study used U.S. Census Bureau tract data to identify more than 1,000 gentrified neighborhoods across the country, outlining where black, Asian, Hispanic or white displacement has already happened and where it likely will soon.

In the part of the neighborhood that has already seen displacement, the Hispanic population went down from 2,574 to 1,822 between 2000 and 2010. The median home value jumped from just over $242,000 to $744,000 in that time and median income levels went up more than $20,000.

The results jive with the researchers findings that larger cities saw gentrification and displacement spread across different neighborhood clusters, unlike in smaller cities where gentrification was more concentrated.

The nation's capital saw the highest percentage of gentrified neighborhoods at 40 percent. More than 20,000 people were displaced in Washington, D.C. alone.
Here are the 10 cities where gentrification has been most intense:

1. Washington, D.C — 40 percent
2. San Diego, CA — 29 percent
3. New York, NY — 24 percent
4. Albuquerque, NM — 23 percent
5. Atlanta, GA — 22 percent
6. Baltimore, MD — 22 percent
7. Portland, OR — 20 percent
8. Pittsburgh, PA — 20 percent
9. Seattle, WA — 20 percent
10. Philadelphia, PA — 17 percent

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.