Gowanus Rezoning Would Curb Housing Segregation But Displace Jobs, Study Finds

After a shakeup to the rezoning process in June, the New York City Council released the city’s first-ever rezoning racial impact statement for the Gowanus Neighborhood Plan.

As it is proposed now, the Gowanus rezoning’s housing plan, which would allow for thousands of affordable apartments to be built, is expected to curb housing segregation in the area. But the plan doesn't include much information on how it will address existing inequities within the neighborhood, the report found, and the new commercial space would likely bring in a disproportionate number of jobs typically held by White workers. 

"The Gowanus Neighborhood Plan did not create the inequality that pervades our economy and it is important to note that this analysis of the projected economic development in the action is a narrow lens,” the report states. “But without targeted investments and programs to help to address these disparities, the Plan may inadvertently contribute to perpetuating them."

The nature of the impact statement is historic in New York. The city’s rezoning process has been a point of tension over the past year as inequality rose amid the coronavirus pandemic and racial justice took center stage in policymaking. Activists argued that the process did not account for the impact rezonings had on the displacement of communities of color. 

Last month, the city council enacted a law that required investigation into how communities of color would be impacted by proposed rezoning as part of the approval process. 

“We hope this report can help change the conversation around the racial impact of rezonings as we work to overcome decades of segregated growth in New York City,” Columbia University professor Lance Freeman, who led the research, said in a statement accompanying the report. 

By adding 3,000 affordable units to the neighborhood — 35% of the total new units — the racial impact statement said the plan is “unprecedented in recent decades in New York City” and “unequivocally moves the needle in terms of reducing … residential segregation.”

But the plan is not likely to bring the same equity with its new commercial buildings. The statement found it could worsen racial inequity in the area by displacing more than 400 industrial and auto-repair jobs while adding 1,000 retail jobs.

“The economic sectors likely to be most directly negatively affected by the new development in Gowanus — the industrial and auto-repair sectors — provide employment to a New York City workforce that is over 80% people of color and offers higher average wages than retail and hospitality and common types of lower-level healthcare sector work,” the statement reads.

Though the plan is estimated to create 2,200 office jobs, they would be in new office construction, typically filled by finance, technology and media companies, which are far more likely to employ by White people.

“The projected loss of industrial space and jobs therefore presents a challenge to racial equity by reducing a reliable source of middle wage jobs for communities of color,” the statement reads.

The report made a series of suggestions to offset effects that would worsen racial inequity in the area including developing the industrial sector in the area and providing workforce development opportunities.