![]() She continues, “The city certainly promises things, and they’ve promised things before.”īuilding tension between the wellbeing of Norfolk’s established residents and the city’s desires to expand represents a microcosm of a country facing a mutating housing-affordability crisis. Paul’s, Black is the director of litigation at the Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia. “There is a long history of historically broken promises and more recently broken promises,” says Attorney Sarah Black. A member of the pro-bono legal team representing the residents of St. Though the city claims that residents can choose to move back into the renovated area, Norfolk’s own track record invites cynicism. The recycled nature of the redevelopment plan strikes a dissonant chord with him, adding, “It’s never worked before and somehow, magically now, it's going to work. Johnny Finn, a geography professor at Christopher Newport University, remains skeptical that Norfolk will address the heart of its housing issues: “The story stays focused on the middle- and upper-middle-income people-who now make it seem like it's this thriving urban area-only because they've displaced rather than solved the underlying problem of racialized poverty.”įinn directs the Living Together / Living Apart project. Because of his work mapping modern segregation locally, Finn is often cited as an expert on inequality in Hampton Roads, a metropolitan region in southeast Virginia that spans from Virginia Beach to Williamsburg. This proposal, critics warn, bears strong semblance to past endeavors that only worsened segregation and the displacement of non-white populations in areas like Atlanta and Washington, D.C. ![]() Norfolk and the NRHA ’s plan includes demolishing over 1,600 units of affordable housing and rebuilding only 600. Paul’s, the lawsuit fears the redevelopment plan will “deny thousands of its Black residents affordable housing opportunities and access to integrated communities.” As Norfolk begins moving residents out of St. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Paul’s public housing against the City of Norfolk, its Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA), and the U.S. This concern is now the center of a lawsuit from the residents of St. Changes in aesthetic also mirror the class and racial imbalances entrenched in the two neighborhoods, patterns frequently reinforced over the city’s history. This arts district was established in 2013 and signaled a “New Energy of Norfolk” with its name.Īcting as one of the many high-contrast sights in the area, there’s a complete flip in appearance between the NEON District and Young Terrace. Just one block divides the areas, during which Norfolk morphs from Young Terrace’s homogenous rows of apartments to the NEON District’s staple candy-colored murals and upscale eateries. ![]() Each sits to the east of the boulevard and dates back 70 years. Home to 4,200 residents, the quadrant is a historically-Black public housing complex consisting of three communities: Young Terrace, Tidewater Gardens, and Calvert Square. Once seen as the hard barrier of these two distinct sides of Norfolk, this border is now beginning to fade.Īs the city evolves, these progressively blurred lines are rapidly changing the space surrounding St. Pauls Boulevard is famously known to bisect the city between east and west, separating potholes and jagged sidewalks from seasonal flora and newly-paved bike lanes.
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