Gentrification and Homelessness in Echo Park- Aylin Caceres

                                                            

                    Gentrification and Homelessness in Echo Park, Los Angeles

    A neighborhood that has gone through many changes regarding its inhabitants and establishments is Echo Park. What once begun as a neighborhood known for affordable housing and consisted of a majority of ethnic minorities, has been struck by an overwhelming increase in rent and displacement of long-time residents and businesses. Significant gentrification in the early 21st century has made it so the wealthy can take over, while those who can't afford to keep up with rent increases are forced out and replaced with a new demographic. Not only are long-time residents and businesses owners affected, but in recent years the increasing homeless population in Echo Park has been confronted with efforts to kick them out of the neighborhood, making it known that their presence is not welcomed.

    Though I am aware that Echo Park was first inhabited by middle-class whites, but for the majority of the time after that it has been populated by Latinos, along with other ethnic minorities. According to "Getting Up: Gentrification and Graffiti in Echo Park, Los Angeles," by Kimberly Soriano, Echo Park saw a significant change in demographic in 2010, where 46.7% of inhabitants identified as White, as compared to 2000, when only 11% identified as White. This chart showcases how while the percentage of white inhabitants was increasing, the percentage of ethnic minorities was decreasing, particularly Latinos. Though Latinos are not leaving by choice, this is because the increase of rent.

Soriano states that, "According to USC's Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, more than 5,000 Latinx and 2,000 Asian Echo Park community members were displaced during the six year period" (Soriano, 2019, p.6). This means that historically disadvantaged groups of people are being left with nowhere to go, in order to make room for a more upper/middle class population. Ethnic minorities already find themselves struggling to find stable jobs to pay rent, being forced out of a neighborhood that had affordable housing makes their livelihood just that much harder. 

 

The L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez came out with a news story in 2015, about the devastating experience of Rocio Sanchez and her family, who were no longer able to pay for their rent in their Echo Park home, after living there for 31 years. Rocio and her family were afraid of where they would go if they no longer had their long-time home. Lopez states in the article, "like a lot of other longtime residents, many of them Latino, they're effectively being squeezed out of Echo Park, where apartments smaller than the home they live in are going for twice what they pay, and corner bodegas give way to $5 coffee shops." Sure the new luxury apartments, vegan restaurants, and yoga studios seem like a nice, appealing addition to the neighborhood, but some people don't seem to think about who these new additions are replacing, and just how much it is affecting the lives of people who struggle to feel valued in society. It is significant to point out what a community is losing when long-time establishments are replaced. The article "The Importance of Place-Makers in the Life of a Los Angeles Community: What Gentrification Erases from Echo Park," touches on the way businesses run by ethnic minorities “became a crossroads, physical and social spaces that regularly brought together individuals whose ethnicity, class, language, and sexual orientation differed” (Molina, 2015, p.71). These were establishments that were affordable and so inclusive to all, places where people from distinct cultures felt like they belonged. But the new establishments that are replacements seem to only want to cater to the new demographic taking over Echo Park, upper/middle class whites. When underprivileged community members lose their affordable homes, they lose their sense of belonging and when businesses run by ethnic minorities are replaced, a sense of community and representation is lost.

A group of people who feel as though their lives are not at all valued in the neighborhood is the homeless. Due to gentrification they have been gravely affected and have expressed how they as though the city is trying to get rid of them. A significant amount of homeless people have set up their tents at Echo Park Lake, but it has not been an easy process, as they are constantly faced with efforts to remove them from the area. A 2020 news report on "CBS Los Angeles," spoke on how the city is attempting to make Echo Park more "safe" by organizing cleanups. However, they also reported how campers were not happy with these cleanups because they were aware of the city's real intentions. The homeless along with other protestors confronted the park rangers and shouted "Services, not sweeps! Services, not sweeps!" Though the city believes these cleanups are making the neighborhood a safer place for all, many don't see it that way, the homeless see the weekly cleanups as a way to make their living situations intolerable so they feel as though they have to leave. This is the city's attempt to make Echo Park more appealing for the new upper/middle class inhabitants, who can afford the new luxury housing.

If Echo Park continues to undergo rapid gentrification, there will be no trace of longtime residents and homeless people will have nowhere else to go. This issue is important to me because I have lived in Echo park my entire life and have noticed that due to gentrification those around me have struggled to pay their rent. I have witnessed neighbors leave their homes in order to make room for insanely priced luxury apartments. I've seen my favorite Mexican businesses torn down and replaced with vegan restaurants, that sell plates triple the price of former restaurants. Instead of creating more and more luxury apartments, and tearing down businesses to make room for places that aren't accessible for all members of a community, developers should work with community members to make decisions that take into account the various voices that make up Echo Park. The city should work on keeping affordable housing and should also work with the homeless people, to provide them more services, instead of throwing out their belongings. Community members should come together and advocate for these changes that result from gentrification to stop, if the city sees just how many people think this issue is important maybe then is when these detrimental changes willl come to a halt, and people will no longer need to live in fear that their homes will be taken away. Echo Park should remain a neighborhood that values diversity and inclusion, a place where all types of people can feel like they belong.

                                                                                                                                      

                                                                      References 

CBS Los Angeles. (2020, Februrary 12). City Crews Attempt Another Echo Park Lake Cleanup Following Protests From Homeless Campers. CBS Los Angeles. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/020120city-crews-another-echo-park-lake-cleanup-following-protests-from-homeless-campers/.

Lopez, S. (2015, March 14). After 31 years in Echo Park, victims of displacement by gentrification. https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0315-lopez-echo-20150313-column.html.

Molina, N. (2015). The Importance of Place and Place-Makers in the Life of a Los Angeles Community. Southern California Quarterly, 97(1), 69-111. https://doi.org/10.1525/scq.2015.97.1.69

Soriano, K. (2019). Getting Up: Gentrification and Graffiti in Echo Park, Los Angeles. UC Santa Barbara Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 1-62. https://search.proquest.com/openvie/80b173c66a0C18650b305