By Haven Miller
The term “climate gentrification” was first used by lawyer and professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Jesse M. Keenan. Climate gentrification refers to a new urban crisis affecting cities all over the world. “The basic idea is that substitute investments in less vulnerable or highly resilient urban areas will operate to accelerate speculative investment, fueling gentrification and displacement. As the impacts of climate change drive people away from afflicted areas, these residents relocate to—and gentrify—less-vulnerable neighborhoods” (Dagenais, 2017).
One of the regions most impacted by both climate change and gentrification is Miami-Dade County in my home state of Florida. Miami’s priciest real estate has historically been located on the coastlines due to the scenic beach views. The poorer residents and new immigrants typically could only afford to live in mainland Miami. However, with climate change causing an increase in the number of natural disasters and sea level rise, residents on the coastlines are beginning to move inward and flee from their beach homes to higher ground. The average elevation of the Miami area is 6 feet above sea level, with the highest elevation on the mainland at 25 feet above sea level. (Charlton, 2017). As the sea levels rapidly rise, Miami becomes more at risk of experiencing devastating floods, with the coastlines being most vulnerable. This new reality is causing the property values and rents of neighborhoods in mainland Miami to skyrocket, and new developments with wealthier residents are beginning to take over these once culturally diverse communities.
One of the communities most affected by climate gentrification is the neighborhood of Little Haiti, which lies on the inland side of Miami’s coastline Upper East Side. With the data from the 2000 U.S. Census, the City of Miami Planning Department recorded the demographics of different neighborhoods of Miami. As for Little Haiti, they had a population that is made up of nearly 65% black residents, 15% Latino, and was only 5% white. The median household income was $18,887.49, making it one of the neighborhoods with the lowest average income in Miami (City of Miami Planning Department, 2004). Now in 2017, it is on track to become South Florida’s hottest neighborhood. A report prepared by the real estate company Zillow predicted that Little Haiti’s home sales will increase by 4.6% in 2017, making it the fastest rate not only in Miami-Dade County, but also the neighboring counties of Broward and Palm Beach. The average home in Little Haiti is valued at $191,500, up 19.6% over the last year, according to Zillow. (Nehamas, 2017). Little Haiti is gentrifying quickly, with climate change acting as the catalyst. As Nicholas Nehamas, a reporter for the Miami Herald explains: “Some business owners and residents are worried they could be forced out by the wave of cash, and that Little Haiti’s unique cultural heritage is under siege” (2017).
Little Haiti started out as a diverse and vibrant neighborhood where less desirable land led to more affordable housing for immigrants settling in Miami. The irony of climate gentrification in Miami neighborhoods like Little Haiti is that for tens of years the zoning and Jim Crow laws in Miami concentrated the black residents to an urban core of older development which sits atop relatively high elevation. “Now, many of those neighborhoods, formerly redlined by lenders and in some places bound in by a literal color wall, have an amenity not yet in the real estate listings: They’re on higher ground and are less likely to flood as seas rise” (Bolstad, 2017). Marleine Bastien, the founder of Haitian Women of Miami explains the current residents’ frustrations: “We were left to fend for ourselves in this depressed and drug-infested area. Now, out of sheer resilience and determination, Little Haiti is this vibrant, culturally interesting, culturally rich neighborhood, now it’s too good for us?”
Climate gentrification not only poses the problem of historic communities losing their character and diversity but also leads to a migration concern. A study by a University of Georgia demographer, Matthew Hauer, predicts that up to 2.5 million people will leave Florida due to sea level rise by the end of the century, and 13 million people in the United States will be displaced by the rising sea levels (Bolstad, 2017). Where will those displaced by climate change and gentrification go? Staying in Miami after being forced out of their homes located upon higher elevation would mean settling for a house in a dangerously low elevated area. As an environmental attorney, Albert Slap points out, “there’s no insurance for sea-level rise. There’s no easy fix if people can’t get mortgages or can’t find a place to live” (Bolstad, 2017). This new reality leaves the residents dislocated by climate gentrification stuck. Many of them chose where they currently live due to affordable prices. But as areas with higher elevation become increasingly out of their reach financially, they are left with the only economically viable option of moving to an area with lower elevation or leaving their home state of Florida entirely.
Clearly, there is a large need for some creative solutions and new policies from Miami-Dade County, Florida’s state government, and concerned NGOs. Otherwise, climate gentrification will continue to grow and spread, displacing people from the safety of higher elevation and leaving them to fend for themselves and find a new home.
Photo Credit – The Invading Sea
Bibliography
Bolstad, E. (2017, May 01). High Ground Is Becoming Hot Property as Sea Level Rises. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/high-ground-is-becoming-hot-property-as-sea-level-rises/
Charlton, M. (2017, August 28). These Women are Fighting Climate Change in Miami’s Vulnerable Neighborhoods. Retrieved from https://impact.vice.com/en_us/article/pad8qv/these-women-are-fighting-climate-change-in-miamis-vulnerable-neighborhoods
City of Miami Planning Department. (2004). Census Information. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20080517201540/http://www.miamigov.com/Planning/pages /services/Census.asp
Dagenais, T. (2017, August 14). Rising Seas, Distressed Communities, and “Climate Gentrification”: Jesse M. Keenan Talks Miami in Vice, Scientific American. Retrieved from http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/2017/08/rising-seas-distressed-communities-and-climate-gentrification-jesse-m-keenan-talks-miami-in-vice-scientific-american/
Nehamas, N. (2017, January 5). Little Haiti will be South Florida’s Hottest Neighborhood in 2017, Report Says. Retrieved from http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article124811349.html