"Chinatown Is Not For Sale"

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/09/06/chinatown-attracts-more-developer-and-rents-increase-local-residents-fear-being-pushed-out/...story.html

Map of Boston's Chinatown
starhereboston.com

Hello Everyone:

Guess what?  We're finally moving to another city.  No, I'm not physically moving, we're just switching topics.  Instead of carrying about Detroit, today we're talking about Boston, Massachusetts.  Specifically, Boston's Chinatown and the issue of affordable housing.  In an article published in the Boston Globe on September 7, 2013, Nikita Lalwani writes on how this immigrant heavy enclave is attracting more developers giving rise to residents' fears of higher rents and/or evictions.  It's the same story across the country as developers target inner city immigrant enclaves for upscale housing developments leaving long time residents to search for more affordable housing, according to Mark Huppert, a senior director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Boston Chinatown Gate
flicker.com

During an affordable housing rally in Chinatown, Long Lin strode to the front of the crowd chanting "Keep tenants in their homes!"  Mr. Lin moved to Boston's Chinatown with his parents when they immigrated from Guangzhou, China.  The opted to settle in the heavily immigrant community because it reminded them of home and the rent for their two-bedroom apartment, about $1,200 a month, was manageable.  Mr. Lin is worried what will happen to his parents if they are forced to move.  It's a common fear in the neighborhood where developers are looking to capitalize on its proximity to the downtown area.  Developers are building new luxury apartments and the long time residents are becoming victims of increased property values and rents.  At present, only twenty percent of the 2,765 new units approved for construction in and around Chinatown will be considered affordable housing, according to July figures from the City of Boston.  The remaining eighty percent will be rented out at market value, meaning that a one-bedroom apartment could go for as much as $3,000-way more than the average working class Chinatown families can afford.  It's more than what I pay in rent for my two-bedroom apartment.

Boston Chinatown Restaurant
world-guides.com

The building at 25 Harrison Avenue is a case study of the past and future of Chinatown.  In February 2012, firefighters investigating a false alarm discovered a whole host of building code violations.  Pipes sat corroded in the bathrooms and black mold grew in the ceilings, but the rent was cheap, as low as $400 per month, so no one complained.  I would've said something.  The conditions were so awful that inspectors ordered a full evacuation, forcing about forty people to leave.  Xi Xiang Li, with memories of the dirty hallways, oil stains in the kitchen, and the army of cockroaches, remembers the day he was told to leave.  It was a chaotic situation and the sixty-six year old gentleman wondered where he would go and could he ever afford to go back.  Mr. Li and the other tenants were relocated to a South Boston housing development.  More than a year later, the future of the boarding housing and whether the residents can return remain in doubt.

Chinatown Jade Garden
boston.com

The Hodara Real Estate Group of boston had plans to renovate the Harrison Avenue Building.  Each unit, a studio apartment, would rent for about $1,400 a month, more than double what some once rented for.  However, in mid-July 2013, the Hodara group withdrew, leaving the fate of the building and its displaced tenants in the hands of owners Alexander and Julie Szeto of Southborough.  The Szetos were cited by Boston's Inspectional Services Department for a raft of violations when the squalid conditions were uncovered.  Mr. Szeto said in a phone phone interview with Nikita Lalwani that he hoped to keep the building affordable depending on the cost of renovations, likely to be extensive.  What was that saying about an ounce of prevention being better than a pound of cure?  Gee Mr. Szeto if you've actually made timely repairs and maintenance maybe you would not have been cited and not be facing expensive and extensive renovations.

Chinatown Bakery
bostonmagazine.com

Through a translator, Pai Chao Lin, a former resident of the Harrison Building, expressed the hope of being able to move back in if Mr. Szeto made the necessary repairs and kept the building affordable.  Mr. Lin is hoping that his children will be able to move in with him once the immigrate from China.  Chinatown is a lifeline for many, according to Mark Liu, programs and operations director of the Chinese Progressive Association.  The neighborhood provides access to Asian grocery stores, bilingual health facilities, and a community of shared values and experiences.  "Our residents deserve to live here, and many of them meed to live here...But more and more are being displaced.  Chinatown should not be for sale," says Mr. Liu.

Lion Dance
gonomad.com

Boston's Chinatown trances its history back to the 1870s, when Irish workers went on strike at a shoe factory in North Adams and Chinese workers were brought in from San Francisco to work for lower wages.  When the contracts of the Chinese workers expired, many migrated to Boston, settling around Beach Street, where the rent was known to be low.  Once, there, it was easier to just stay put, especially since racial and ethnic discrimination kept them out of predominately Caucasian neighborhoods.  When the Central Artery was build in the fifties, the construction displaced hundreds of families.  More were forced out over the succeeding decades by urban renewal projects and the expansion of the Tufts Medical Center.  Large Chinese communities arose in Quincy, Cambridge, Malden, and other parts of the Boston area.  However, the influx of high-end developers in Chinatown is a relatively new phenomenon, according to Sheila Dillon, the director and chief of housing for the Department of Neighborhood Development.  In 2010, there were 2,114 residential units in Chinatown, 987 were deed-restricted as affordable.  An impressive number but three years later that percentage-about 47%, has shrunk and keeps shrinking.

Boston Chinatown Park
boston.com

Years of community activism have transformed the neighborhood from a red light district to a piece of coveted real estate.  One alternative to the sudden flurry of high-end development are four buildings being constructed by the city in Chinatown that will create 416 new affordable housing units.  These new units will target households making extremely low to moderate income ($28,300/year to $67,350/year in Boston).  Many Chinatown families make even less than that.  To help with the cost of rent, the federal government subsidizes the cost of housing with Section 8 vouchers.  In light of the current shut down, we'll see how long that lasts.  The family spends 30% of its income on rent and the federal government, for now, makes up the remaining 70%.  Unfortunately, this year the Boston Housing Authority saw a federal government imposed cutback of $10 million in Section 8 vouchers.  With the shut down, this cut could be more.  The result was that the Housing Authority stopped issuing new vouchers and now, it could completely end the subsidies for more than 10% of the 11,000 households eligible for the vouchers.  This is a Catch-22 situation, the harder the Chinatown residents work to make their community a better place to live, the more attractive it becomes to developers which creates increased rents and forces people out.

Unfortunately, this sad situation is occurring around the United States.  Many long established ethnic communities are being targeted by high-end developers for new condominium/loft projects.  If we lose these communities, cities will become bland and boring places.  A piece of history gone forever.  One solution is for preservationists, planners, developers, and architects to work together to secure the vibrant urban cultural heritage while creating new housing.  It's a tough task trying to find a balance but one worth taking on.

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