The Decline of the Middle Class Neighborhood (27. June 2006, 14:19 by Derek Young) ~ Where Are We Heading?
A consistent discussion topic at cocktail parties, museum openings, dive bars, and on Exit133 is the price of real estate in Tacoma. We’re amazed at how expensive it’s becoming in some neighborhoods and lament the fact that we often couldn’t buy our houses again if we wanted to today. Our neighborhoods are changing – for good or otherwise. A Brooking’s Institute study recently looked at the impact of neighborhood gentrification on middle-income families.
Although middle-income families have declined considerably as a share of the overall family income distribution, it is noteworthy that middle-class neighborhoods have disappeared even faster in metropolitan areas, especially in cities. This trend suggests increased sorting of high- and low-income families into neighborhoods that reflect their own economic profiles, and increased vulnerability of middle-class neighborhoods “tipping” towards higher- or lower-income status. The resulting disparities among neighborhoods create new challenges for policies to enhance household mobility, improve the delivery of key public services, and promote private-sector investment in struggling locales.
The study seems to reflect several comments we’ve received on this website. While we seem to like our prices heading skyward and our neighborhoods getting more hip and/or quieter, what other challenges could this create for us – the collective city, community, and personal us?
Link to The Washington Post
Link to the Brooking’s Institute
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For starters, it will undermine demographic diversity and undercut public goods that well-to-do childless couples and singles don’t need, like schools. Washington-Hoyt, anyone? As you note, it’s great to see prices go skyward and Tacoma go upscale, as long as you’re already a property owner. At my place of work we have already had prospective hires from out of state turn down jobs when they saw what a house would cost them in the north end. This is like a variant of the so-called “Dutch Disease,” when rising prices in Holland due to natural gas production made other forms of economic production uncompetitive. Instead of natural resources distorting the local economy, we have Seattle.
If anyone wants to read more about the crisis of urban areas I would recommend Joel Kotkin’s work, especially his piece “The Ersatz Urban Renaissance”. http://www.joelkotkin.com/
Wow! That Kotkin piece The Ersatz Urban Renaissance really hit home. Just this week I emailed Derek asking what kind of future Tacoma is setting up for itself by hyping all the downtown condo development while many of our neighborhoods and business districts languish. I am beginning to think that instead of luring new middle aged, mostly white, people to Tacoma, we should instead focus on attracting new families from Ethiopia, for example. I think they would contribute more to Tacoma and its neighborhoods in both the short and long term than all these speculators buying condos…
Good article.
Unfortunately, Tacoma’s downtown has such a high vacancy rate that the article probably doesn’t apply here as much.
Unlike the cities in the article which are already pretty successful, Tacoma would be so lucky to even have the effect outlined in the article apply to it.
One interesting point made in the article is that many condos are built on speculation and are not occupied. Thus, it will take many more of them than perhaps we anticipated to make a significant difference downtown.
3 | Posted by Erik | Jun 27, 10:45 PM
This community has chosen to support local schools and local parks with tax increases over the years – bonds, levys, etc. Transit was granted a local increase in sales taxes after the repeal of the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax. In Richard Florida terms, the community has affirmed equality for gays when it confirmed the anti-discrimination ordinance passed by Council. The City also invested in the fiber-optic backbone of Click! network. According to the article, we are doing some things right – from both the Florida perspective and the middle-class perspective.
Our supply of affordable housing… is lacking though, and I really wonder whether that is because we are not developing at high enough densities – and the higher densities are being retarded by minimum parking requirements. I can’t help but think that the cost of structured parking is factoring partially into the outrageous cost of some of these condos.
4 | Posted by Chris | Jun 28, 09:55 AM
Chris:
It doesn’t matter if you support local schools or parks if there’s no one to fill them.
Erik:
Are you referring to the commercial vacancy rate or residential? If it’s commercial, then the dutch disease applies—a town that can’t support large businesses but is filled with condos and hip retail. Firms and familes will go to the suburbs if the urban core isn’t kid and business friendly. I would argue that we don’t want these problems, because once you’ve gone down that road it’s hard to back out.
“I can’t help but think that the cost of structured parking is factoring partially into the outrageous cost of some of these condos.”
I agree!
The price of steel and concrete has doubled in recent years making building parking garages extremely expensive to build- relative to residential which can be built with wood.
In my mind, our zoning code either needs a major overhauling or to be scrapped and start fresh. If we are to have required parking at all, we should have parking maximums, not minimums.
Personally, I think we should let the market decide how much (or little) parking should go into a given project. To have a prescribed rule demanding a number of parking spaces based upon the intended use of a building not yet constructed seems arbitrary to me. Who’s to say that the use will remain the same?
6 | Posted by morgan | Jun 28, 02:12 PM
“Erik:
Are you referring to the commercial vacancy rate or residential?
”
Some of the buildings are in such bad shape, it is difficult to tell if they are residential or commercial.
Last night, I drove down the length of Tacoma Ave south past the courthouse and it is still a land of blight and dispair with Marcoto condos placed right in the middle of it.
“While we seem to like our prices heading skyward and our neighborhoods getting more hip and/or quieter, what other challenges could this create for us – the collective city, community, and personal us?”
I think the challenge is to create more housing in and around downtown that is a few notches above section 8 and a couple down from 7 figure condos.
Though I see there are a few condos in the $200 or less range on Broadway.
7 | Posted by Erik | Jun 29, 04:12 PM
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