Gentrification Is Abound in the City of Newburgh

The massive shift gentrification in the City of Newburgh is causing can be seen on Newburgh’s well-known Liberty Street. Turning left off of Newburgh’s Broadway, lined up on the city streets are beautiful and equally overpriced eateries, as well as boutiques. Further down the street, try to avoid potholes, are overpriced apartments in old brick buildings–the cost of gentrification.

Ali Muhammed is a resident in one of these apartments. Muhammed has witnessed the displacement and pushing out of residents of Newburgh and this inspired him to become the CEO and co-founder of Melanin Unchained. Muhammed is a believer that “communities need support,” in order to thrive.

Through Melanin Unchained’s initiatives like clothing drives on the corner of Liberty Street and Broadway, they are providing support to their local community. Melanin Unchained believes in protesting differently through community cleanups, clothing and food drives and protesting; they are striving to improve the state of Newburgh. There's a wide variety of issues to address when talking about urban communities, especially Newburgh. The pandemic shone a light on the disparities, inequities and injustices that are being done to the community of Newburgh.

Newburgh was once a prosperous city during the Industrial Revolution due to the businesses and new means of transportation it produced. Newburgh was the home to shops all along Water Street. With easy access to the Hudson River, Metro-North trains, and an abundance of thruways and highways, Newburgh was a transportation hub during the industrial revolution. As manufacturing prices began to increase, some businesses decided to move to the less-expensive South and abandon their workers.

Looking back, the promise of urban renewal devastated Hudson Valley cities, but Newburgh suffered a lot of loss. Newburgh went from being a booming transportation hub with money flowing through the economy to displacing its residents and businesses, basically uprooting the community. Now, it is up to the city's advocates to restore community trust, preserve the unique qualities of Newburgh, and help the less fortunate prosper.

The lack of access to affordable housing and to affordable healthcare has always been an issue in the City of Newburgh.

James Turner is a coordinator of Food Not Bombs, a non-profit volunteer-based organization in Newburgh that provides food to the less fortunate. Turner says that gentrification in Newburgh has been around since the city’s initial economic downfall in the later twentieth century. People couldn’t define the process of wealthier communities moving in and making life less sustainable for the poorer communities when it initially caused a stir. The massive deindustrialization, or decline in industrial activity, meant substantial job loss and abandonment in the area. Many apartments and businesses were never restored.

Melanin Unchained President, Amir Barksdale mentions that the City of Newburgh has become such a divided community and it's important that the community comes together because “we can’t depend on the government to save us.”

“We can’t depend on the government to save us–so it’s very important that we come together as a community.”

— Amir Barksdale

Unaffordable Housing

Newburgh needs to become affordable to its natives before it can reclaim its title as the best All-American City it once was. With such a rich history, from being the home of George Washington’s Headquarters and one of the earliest power plants put in place by Thomas Edison, it’s essential to revive the City of Newburgh. The vast number of disparities that have hit Newburgh have accumulated over time and the COVID-19 pandemic has made it abundantly clear how much help this community needs.

Through Melanin Unchained, Barksdale has also established the initiative of Black Business Tuesday’s because he believes that “supporting black businesses is the correct way to revitalize our city” of Newburgh. This initiative both supports diversity in the area and aids in supporting black business owners thrive in the community. Barksdale is also passionate about educating people on how to save their money throughout his community of Newburgh.

Barksdale states that Melanin Unchained has been preaching “support black businesses” at nearly every protest they have had the ability to publicly speak at. “If we can influence our following to support black businesses it will stimulate our local economy. The phrase Barksdale coined, “Equality without equity don’t mean shit” has been extremely effective in enforcing financial literacy throughout the community. “‘Support black business’ will be more effective with the aid of Black business Tuesdays. Black Business Tuesdays will serve as a map for our followers to direct their dollars into our community.” Equally dispersing the wealth among the community will aid in creating equal opportunity and overall creating a better City of Newburgh.

According to 2019 Census Data, the median gross annual income of a person living in Newburgh is almost $42,000. Their monthly rent is a little more than $1,110 a month. So, that annual income, divided by 12 months would equal $3,480. That means that about one third of their monthly income is going toward rent. This is simply unaffordable for most Newburgh natives. Developers come to the Hudson Valley, put in high rents, and hoard their profits.

As decades passed, this process of gentrification just got worse because of housing developers up-charging rent in the area.

A prime example is 40 South Miller Street in Newburgh listed on relator.com for $139,000. This is a boarded up, gutted building with paint chipped walls that was last sold in 2004 for $50,000, practically one third of the cost that it is selling for in 2021. Joshua Simmons, a researcher a SUNY New Paltz’s Benjamin Center said “You wouldn’t be able to turn that over for $50,000 because of how much money needs to be put in to renovate it.” Other multi-family homes in the area are in similar condition and go for even higher prices.

Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson advocates for fair housing and healthcare. This non-profit organization in the Hudson Valley was established in 2012. Diana Lopez is a community organizer for Ulster County. Lopez says that the Hudson Valley is facing a crisis because of the increase in developers buying out properties, gentrification occurring in the community, and rent increases.

Richard Ocejo is an associate professor of sociology at John Jay College who researched urban sociology in the City of Newburgh. Ocejo’s study reads that city leaders become focused on catering to the higher class citizens instead of addressing the problems of Newburgh natives. Turner mentions new and pricey businesses and eateries in Newburgh are directly adding to the poverty crisis because close proximity to nice eateries make housing values increase in the area.

Referring to the housing crisis, “With the pandemic, it just got worse,” says Lopez. “Millions of families have lost their jobs, and in turn, their main source of income. They have not been able to keep up with rent and face the possibility of eviction.”

Unaffordable Healthcare

On a January morning, Barksdale was setting up tables as other members and volunteers of Melanin Unchained were bringing boxes and bags full of donated clothing and food. Even in below freezing temperatures, a homeless man was roaming the streets in what seemed to be an overwashed sweater that had no fleece on the inside left to keep him warm. The man was shivering as volunteer JoAnn Forbes began packing a paper bag full of clothes for him. This older man has no job and no means of income to pay for any kind of health insurance and in a pandemic; it is crucial to not become ill.

Chris Lennon is the Vice President of Grants and Regulatory affairs at Cornerstone Family Healthcare in Newburgh says that the rapid displacement of mostly Black and Brown people that is occuring in Newburgh due to gentrification leads to even worse health outcomes. Affordable access to healthcare isn’t even on people’s radar because when basic necessities like access to affordable housing, clothing and food become a struggle, healthcare gets pushed aside.

Vanessa Cid, a community organizer at Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, says that “our society is failing to meet our basic needs, and the problems that we're facing, they have deep roots. Many families can't afford healthcare because our laws favor private and pharmaceutical companies over regular people. This shouldn't be happening, but the problems that we face, affect all of us, and nothing has made this more visible than the COVID-19 crisis. When our system fails, it costs human lives.” This can be seen when comparing insurance premiums within the New York Consumer Guide to Health Insurers.

When talking about the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare overhaul, Lennon mentions that it gets lost in the conversation that this Act changed the way that public healthcare is paid for. “State governments, and new elected officials, are empowered to change the way that they pay doctors. So now, we're transitioning into a new system with Medicaid,” where medical professionals are no longer being paid for the amount of people they are treating, but for their patient outcomes. Healthcare systems are starting to care about outside factors that might play a role in preventing patients from seeing their primary care provider more often. Lennon adds, “in a low-income community, this is really vital. This theory essentially says that you are based on your social status based on where you live and the conditions that you live in.”

In 2017, Obamacare required New York to expand Medicaid eligibility from 100% of poverty-ridden people to 138%. If this threshold were to go back to 100% of the poverty rate, only the working poor will be left without health insurance.

Data USA reports that there are over 3,600 Newburgh residents living without health coverage because so many residents do not prioritize getting their health checked. Because of this, the health outcome disparity becomes far worse, and the healthcare system is starting to realize that. The healthcare system noticed that patients might have health insurance, but they may not be able to afford to miss work, transportation, or child-care–social determinants of health.

Melanin Unchained also recognizes these disparities and works towards providing people with the basic necessities they need like food and clothing to be able to focus on their bigger, individualized financial needs in order to become independent.

Ali Muhammed, 33, isn’t only an activist working alongside Barksdale. He’s also a current candidate for Orange County Executive, running to fill that seat this coming fall. Barksdale also supports Muhammed’s campaign because he believes in what Muhammed stands for; helping the community. Through Muhammed’s campaign, he aids in supporting the homeless population of Newburgh through personally forming relationships and attending to their needs, whether that is providing a hot dinner or even a hotel stay.

Mass Unemployment in Newburgh

“Gentrification will inevitably cause mass displacement of Black people and brown people and poor people,” Turner said.

COVID has left the poorest, and frequently LatinX and Black residents of Newburgh especially vulnerable. The population of Newburgh is 50% LatinX, 30% Black, and almost one fourth of the population lives in poverty according to 2019 Census Data.

“As of November 2020, there are 145 million people employed in New York. This represents a -5.78% decrease in employment” when compared to the previous year's employment according to Data USA.

Newburgh has a concentration of non-profit organizations and volunteer services, but those resources alone can not save homelessness from increasing, according to 2019 Census Data. Homelessness is seemingly an epidemic in the city.

Lennon states that Newburgh makes an interesting case because one fourth of its population is living in poverty and “it has been poverty ridden for so long” at higher rates as claimed by 2019 Census Data compared to previous years.

According to research by the Workforce Development Institute, which identifies strategies to better the workforce, the unemployment rate in Newburgh “ongoing, pre-existing problem that many have been aware of for some time.” Through different initiatives, activist groups, concerned citizens, and even the Newburgh government have tried to tackle this issue. Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey and other city leaders credit the city’s high unemployment rate to not enough public transportation, decades of deindustrialization, and because of the social issues and poverty in the community.