May 2021 - Rainier Beach Action Coalition, the Multicultural Community Coalition and Puget Sound Sage came together to develop a shared analysis of the threats of the COVID-19 pandemic. Scroll through this page to learn about what we refer to as ‘Disaster Gentrification’.
Disaster Gentrification occurs when people with wealth take advantage of a disaster to buy and/or take land and housing for cheap from lower-income people, and then sell or rent to higher-income people for a profit.
In the United States, this often results in the dispossession of land, loss of wealth, and forced relocation for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities.
Without intervention, disasters contribute to a cycle of dispossession and displacement that creates deeper vulnerability for BIPOC communities when the next disaster inevitably comes.
A Recent Cycle of Disaster Gentrification in King County: the 2007-2008 Mortgage Crisis
In 2008, the United States experienced an economic disaster. The subprime mortgage market, which preyed on BIPOC families, crashed resulting in a foreclosure crisis for millions. The crash of this market had a ripple effect, resulting in massive unemployment and foreclosures across all kinds of mortgages.
Our Federal and local governments did not intervene quickly or aggressively enough, but corporate entities were ready. They bought up land across King County and thousands of BIPOC families across King County were displaced through the cycle of Disaster Gentrification.
Where in King County did Foreclosures hit hardest?
The Seattle Times mapped foreclosures between 2008 and 2014. Foreclosures occurred disproportionately in BIPOC neighborhoods in Seattle and South King County. In zip code 98118 – located in the Rainier Valley – lenders foreclosed on 1,496 homes, amounting to 8% percent of 2014 housing stock. In comparison, Madison Valley (98112), with a current median home price of $959,000 and a 75.6% white population, only 242 foreclosures occurred amounting to just 2% of the housing stock.
Corporate Landlords Bought BIPOC Homes and Land in King County
This article gives a snapshot of the scale of corporate real estate entities in our communities in the aftermath of the Great Recession. In April of 2013, Invitation Homes bought an average of 10 homes per day; by year’s end Blackstone had purchased 1,585 homes in the Seattle metro area. In all of 2013, major investors bought about 3,100 single-family homes, five times more than in 2012.
The Aftermath: One in Eleven Black adults was evicted between 2013 and 2017
The University of Washington’s Eviction Project Researchers studied evictions In King and Pierce County, data suggests one in 11 Black adults was evicted between 2013 and 2017—and it’s even worse in Pierce County, with 1 in 6 Black adults evicted in the same period.
A Recipe for COVID-19 Disaster Gentrification
COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted BIPOC communities in King County, compounding existing threats of skyrocketing housing costs and displacement pressures. Two of the four steps in a Disaster Gentrification cycle have happened:
Vulnerability
BIPOC communities are extremely vulnerable to dispossession, with high risks of widespread evictions and foreclosures.
Speculation
Global investors and giant equity firms wait in the wings with billions in dollars to speculate on distressed properties.
Our local governments need to act now to prevent dispossession and displacement to stop Disaster Gentrification from happening.
How do we stop Disaster Gentrification?
Our local governments can stop disaster gentrification by passing policies that stop the dispossession of our BIPOC communities and increase BIPOC control over how our neighborhoods change. These policies include:
1. Reduce evictions and foreclosures
Reduce evictions and foreclosures by:
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- Canceling rent debt,
- Extending the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums
- Making rent relief contingent on increased tenant protections
The pace and scale of disaster gentrification following the pandemic will largely depend on Federal, State, and local approaches to rent and mortgage suspension. Local governments must act now to do everything in their power to keep people housed, both to prevent disaster gentrification and to prevent further expansion of the homelessness crisis.
In addition to the possibility of thousands of evictions, many renters—disproportionately low-income BIPOC tenants—will be saddled with insurmountable debt, which will impact their ability to rent in the future through tenant screening reports that assess credit.
2. Robustly fund acquisition and preservation funds
Create opportunity for BIPOC communities to secure land and buildings to preserve affordability by robustly funding acquisition and preservation funds.
When a disaster, like the pandemic, dramatically reduces the economic power of BIPOC communities, local governments need both an urgency to intervene and a long-term strategy to transfer housing and other critical buildings into community ownership. These investments should be led and owned by community-based organizations that will keep the land permanently affordable, are values driven and have democratic governance structures—what we call Community Stewardship of Land.
Within a Community Stewardship of Land framework, communities permanently own or control land with a goal of long-term collective stewardship. Communities steward land holistically to meet our housing, service, small business, cultural and recreational needs. Community stewards are driven by strong values, led by the people they serve, practice democratic decision making, and have a contract or agreement that specifies the purpose and governance of maintaining the land.
3. Establish equitable development zones
Increase BIPOC power in planning and development by establishing local planning and accountability through equitable development zones.
Stopping displacement of BIPOC communities requires a focus on both equity and place. Who gets to live where in our region has largely been driven by racism and income segregation – but once a community has set down roots, it can thrive in place over time. Preserving neighborhood affordability, and the institutions that anchor BIPOC communities, must become a higher priority for local governments or we will simply experience the same harm over and over again.
To prioritize anti-displacement – after a disaster or as an ongoing strategy – local governments should create equitable development zones (EDZ) in areas with high risk of displacement for BIPOC communities.
4. Pass a Tenant/Community Opportunity to Purchase Act
Preserve affordability and create a path for tenant ownership by passing a Tenant/Community Opportunity to Purchase Act
A Tenant/Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA/COPA) allows tenants to compete with private sector buyers to purchase their homes and preserve affordability. The goal is to intercept speculative real estate transactions and put rental housing into shared tenant ownership or non-profit stewardship, with a deed restriction for permanent affordability, to prevent the displacement of current and future residents.
5. Create Non-Solicitation/cease and desist zones
Stop harassment of vulnerable homeowners by creating non Solicitation/cease and desist zones.
The real estate industry has a long history of perpetuating systemic racism in Seattle and in cities across the United States.
One tactic by the industry is to send unsolicited offers to buy homes, targeting owners who live on fixed incomes (like seniors or disabled persons), live in undervalued houses, or are part of a demographic group that appears to be leaving a neighborhood. These offers can play on homeowner fears, such as rising property taxes or a pandemic, or offer “quick cash” to people living with other economic uncertainty.
Non-Solicitation and Cease and Desist Zones limit this predatory activity by preventing real estate affiliates from canvassing, flyering or otherwise contacting residents without their consent within designated areas and/or on non-solicitation lists.
6. Tax certain real estate transactions to discourage property flipping for profit
Home flipping is the process of a real estate entity purchasing a home or building and quickly reselling to make a profit, rather than to live in it or provide housing to those who need it. Flipping can result in displacement of long-term residents, permanent loss of affordable homes, and dramatically increased property values in a neighborhood.
A flipping tax imposes an additional sales tax on homes sold within a short time frame from the last purchase. The best policy proposals are graduated, so that the sooner a property is resold, the higher the tax. A successful policy will also set the tax rate high enough to be a disincentive to the flipping activity
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While we are still in the early stages of economic recovery from the pandemic, it's important for our local governments to take action as soon as possible to prevent history from repeating itself.
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In the News
Stopping Disaster Gentrification Post-Pandemic Will Require Robust Action by Gregory Davis, Managing Strategist at Rainer Beach Action Coalition, South Seattle Emerald
Disaster Gentrification Series Part 1 by Jerrell Davis, Rainier Beach Action Coalition
Disaster Gentrification Series Part 2 by Jerrell Davis, Rainier Beach Action Coalition
This is a joint research project with Multicultural Community Coalition and Rainier Beach Action Coalition.