DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE
HISTORY
WHERE/WHEN APPLICABLE
TESTIMONIES

DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
The Heart of the City has incorporated multiple waves of immigrants over the course of its history, and the demographics of the area's neighborhoods are in a constant state of evolution. Yet in recent years, as the cost of housing rises faster than wages, many community organizations have expressed concern that minority groups and low-income residents may be experiencing a disproportionate risk of displacement from their homes against their will.

The extent to which gentrification and displacement are forcing change in the ethnic composition of the Heart of the City is unclear. Statistics on displacement are difficult to calculate because a range of factors may motivate a move from one place to another. Currently in the Heart of the City, some minority populations are declining while others are growing. With the exception of Roslindale, black populations in the Heart of the City are declining.

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HISTORY
In the 1960s and 1970s, a rapid social and ethnic transition in the Heart of the City wreaked social and physical havoc on the neighborhoods. This demographic transition was directly related to race.

Along the Blue Hill Avenue corridor in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan in particular, the transition from a white, largely Jewish population to an almost entirely black population was exceedingly rapid and destabilizing. The neighborhoods were home to approximately 90,000 Jews in the early 1960s. Communities east of Blue Hill Avenue that had been 85% to 100% Jewish in 1940 became 75% and 100% black by 1970 (Gamm, 1999). The ethnic transition between 1968 and 1970 was particularly dramatic (Levine and Harmon, 1992). This social upheaval was to some extent facilitated by the Boston Banks Urban Renewal Group (B-BURG). The group offered low-interest loans to first-time African American homebuyers. Real estate agents employed scare tactics to encourage panicked white residents to sell their homes for cheap and then offered the homes to black families for high prices. According to the Mattapan Organization at the time, "The agents reportedly capitalize on fears of neighborhood change and deterioration and urge people to sell their property at low prices" (Mattapan Report, 1967).

Such practices, known as 'red-lining' and 'block-busting,' declared certain areas of the city ineligible or eligible for loans based on racial criterion. These practices bear partial responsibility for the rapid transition along the Blue Hill Avenue corridor. Analysis of census tract data has shown, however, that the exodus of Jews from the Blue Hill Avenue Corridor was well underway by the time such loans were offered (Gamm, 1999).

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WHERE/ WHEN APPLICABLE: 
Jamaica Plain:
Between 1990 and 2000, Jamaica Plain experienced a decrease of more than 4% in total population, with a slight gain in Asian population and an almost equal decline in white, black, and Hispanic populations. The Hispanic population of Jamaica Plain dropped from 26% to 23% of the total population while the population of African Americans in Jamaica Plain declined from 19% to 17% of the total population. The white population increased from 49% to 50% of hte total population between 1990 and 2000. The Asian and Pacific Islander population increased from 5% to 7% of hte total population and the multi-racial population increased from less than 1% to 3% of the total population between 1999 and 2000.

Population of Jamaica Plain:       

1990:             40,995
2000:             38,196

Ethnic breakdown of Jamaica Plain:

                         2000       1990      1980
_______________________________________
White             50%        49%        59%
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Black             17%        19%        18%
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Hispanic         23%        26%        20%
_______________________________________
Asian / PA       7%           5%         2%
_________________________________
Multi-racial       3%          --            --

(Boston's population 2000. Boston Redevelopment Authority)

Roslindale:
Between 1990 and 2000, Roslindale's population increased by approximately 5%, with significant increases in the black and Hispanic populations and a decline in white populations. While in 1980, 91% of Roslindale was white, in 2000, whites comprised only 56% of the total population. The African American population increased by 4% in 1980 to 16% in 2000. The Hispanic population increased from 20% in 1980 to 23% in 2000. Although this is a somewhat dramatic transition, the change has not been accompanied by economic and social instability, but rather increased stability.

Population of Roslindale:            

1990:              32,959
2000:              34,618

Ethnic breakdown of Roslindale:

                   2000       1990       1980
__________________________________
White           56%        77%        91%
________________________________________
Black            16%         8%         4%
________________________________________
Hispanic        23%        26%       20%
________________________________________
Asian / PA       4%         3%          1%
________________________________________
Multi-racial       3%         --             --

(Boston's population 2000. Boston Redevelopment Authority)

Mattapan:
Mattapan's population increased by 3.7% between 1990 and 2000. Although blacks continue to comprise the vast majority of Mattapan residents, the Hispanic population of Mattapan increased markedly over this time period. The white population continued to decline, and the black population declined as well.

Population of Mattapan:

1990:              36,135
2000:              37,486

Ethnic breakdown of Mattapan: 
                  2000      1990       1980 
________________________________
White             4%         8%         15%
_____________________________________
Black           77%       84%         79%
_____________________________________
Hispanic       13%        7%           5%
_____________________________________
Asian / PA      1%        1%           0%
_____________________________________
Multi-racial      4%         --              --

(Boston's population 2000. Boston Redevelopment Authority)

Roxbury:
Roxbury's population declined by 3.8% between 1990 and 2000. Like Mattapan, Roxbury experienced a significant decrease in the black/ African American population, and a significant increase in the Hispanic population, althogh blacks remain a strong majority of residents. 

Population of Roxbury:            
1990:              58,893
2000:             56,658

Ethnic breakdown of Roxbury: 
                       2000       1990       1980
_________________________________
White           5%         6%          8%
_________________________________
Black          63%       71%        76%
______________________________________
Hispanic      24%       19%        13%
______________________________________
Asian / PA     1%        0%          0%
______________________________________
Multi-racial     4%         --            --

(Boston's population 2000. Boston Redevelopment Authority)


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TESTIMONIES:
"There are still [Jewish shop owners on Blue Hill Avenue] left, cowering behind police locks, burglar alarms, heavy steel grilles, pretending to do business. The fruit store has a few rotten apples, an old pear, dried plums and in the back they take wagers on the last few digits of the Treasury balance, numbers racket. Yet it all seems furtive, desperate, beleaguered swapping, the last jerk of a chicken's wings, its throat slit. As if the Jews had swept out of Dorchester in one blow. A thunderclap catastrophe the rabbi called upon our heads" (M. Mirsky, "Blue Hill Avenue," 1972, p3).

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