Defend Harlem: Locals push back against Columbia University “land grab” at Juneteenth conference
Harlem electeds and housing advocates took to the streets for the Juneteenth holiday in continued protest against the expansion of Columbia University’s campus into Black and Brown neighborhoods—a grassroots student movement that has received legislative support from Senator Cordell Cleare.
Fears of Columbia University gentrifying Harlem date back to at least 2008, when the state inked a $170 million West Harlem Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with the university, known as the Columbia University Education Mixed-Use Development Land Use Improvement and Civic Project Modified General Project Plan. The plan allowed the university to develop 17 acres of land between 125th Street and 133rd Street.
The school has since used eminent domain and the courts to acquire large swaths of property in the community, and has been highly criticized for its role in gentrification of the area and the decrease of affordable housing stock.
In 2022, student-led groups such as United Front Against Displacement (UFAD), Student Worker Solidarity, and Columbia Housing Equity Project gathered on Columbia’s campus to protest the land development of Harlem. Many cited the intended closure of the Red Balloon Early Childhood Learning Center, a local low-cost preschool, as a clear sign that the university was no longer for the community. The preschool’s space was provided by Columbia free of charge back in 1972.
“I have heard from the community repeated concerns—rents are astronomical, families are finding it more and more difficult to live in our community and are rapidly being pushed out,” said Cleare. “Small businesses are failing because of rents. Not only is affordable housing disappearing; housing is disappearing, according to the (Community Service Society (CSS)) report. We are in a housing crisis and as we struggle to find ways to build affordability, one of the greatest tools in our toolbelt is to preserve the housing that we already have. This Columbia expansion is a direct threat to the preservation of affordability in Harlem.”
Cleare introduced Senate Bill 9028, which calls for a pause on further projects from the 2008 Columbia plan, last year. Other Harlem electeds chimed in with their support at the rally.
“I am supportive of what the senator is doing to demand on behalf of the entire diverse community to call for an investigation and a reopening of what was passed in 2008,” Assemblymember Inez Dickens said in a statement. “This deal was not inclusive and has not met the needs of our community, whether we are talking about affordable housing, small businesses support, and the availability of community space for programs such as the youth, senior, small business programs. Residents and businesses can no longer afford to stay in the community they were raised or started in.”
According to the CSS, Harlem’s demographics have changed drastically. Community District 9 lost about 14% of its Black population and 10% of its Hispanic population between the 2010 and 2020 census tallies. Conversely, the area has seen an influx of high-income Asian and white residents with incomes above $200,000 moving into the district, reported the CSS.
Adding to the issue is a decline in affordable housing stock available for rent. The district’s private rent-regulated housing stock has shrunk while residents grapple with the city’s Rent Guidelines Board’s (RGB) perpetual rent hikes on their units. Meanwhile, Columbia “bought out and emptied” at least two residential buildings in the neighborhood (602 West 132nd Street and 3289 Broadway), paying residents for relocation costs and moving expenses at about two months of median asking rents in the area, reported the Columbia Spectator.
Harlem’s eviction rates for Black and Brown residents also remain statistically higher than in the rest of the city. The CSS reported that evictions were common in the northern part of Harlem near Columbia’s expanding campus in 2017.
“The demographic and affordability changes in Upper Manhattan, including in West Harlem, are alarming and moving in the wrong direction,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said in a statement. “Black, Hispanic, and lower-income residents whose families have weathered the toughest years uptown are being replaced, unable to afford rents uptown. We must protect vulnerable tenants, build much more affordable housing, and assist small Black and Brown-owned businesses that are also being displaced.”
Harlem advocates at the rally don’t think Columbia has lived up to the CBA’s promises to invest in the community.
In response to “land grab” accusations, a Columbia University spokesperson said that the Manhattanville project has “benefitted from the strong support” of elected officials and residents.
“We are exceedingly proud of the successes of this project to date and grateful for these partnerships[,] which have created thousands of jobs for the residents of Upper Manhattan, brought new local businesses and economic opportunity to an under-resourced and underserved community, and led to the development of new affordable housing as well as opportunities for long-time local residents to become first-time homeowners,” said the spokesperson in a statement. “But unfortunately, our community is not immune to the affordable-housing crisis playing out in neighborhoods across New York City, and we all bear the responsibility of helping to address it.”
The spokesperson said that the university’s CBA contains a historic $24 million investment in local affordable housing.
“Along with our partner, the West Harlem Development Corporation, we welcome the input of elected officials and other local stakeholders to help maximize and leverage the impact of that investment,” said the Columbia spokesperson. “Beyond the CBA, we have always seen the need and opportunity to do more to address the needs and priorities of the local community. To that end, we engage daily with elected officials, government partners, community leaders, and local groups and we will always welcome any opportunity to engage with additional stakeholders to hear their ideas for how the university can address the needs and priorities of the local communities, including through the development of affordable housing, improvements to public transportation, support for local small businesses, and improved quality of life.”
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