Photo by Noah Devereaux

Photo by Noah Devereaux

Columbia Heights, Brookland, Anacostia, Marshall Heights, and 14 other neighborhoods spread across D.C. can be considered gentrifying, according to a recent paper filed with a city tax review board. The report lists 18 parts of the District where the median property value was below the citywide average in 2001, and above it in 2010.

The report, which was first reported by Washington Business Journal, suggests that gentrification is not necessarily tied to shifts in the city’s racial makeup. While D.C. writ large is indeed getting whiter, according to Census Bureau data released last week, many of the neighborhoods included in the gentrification report were overwhelmingly black a decade ago, and remain so today.

The study was submitted last week to the D.C. Tax Revision Commission, a panel led by former Mayor Anthony Williams that will advise District officials next year on how to update the city’s tax code.

Eight of the neighborhoods are east of the Anacostia River, and all are east of Rock Creek Park. But in all of them the one of the principal driving factors was age. While the city as a whole is getting younger, the effect is seen much more in the neighborhoods that made the report. The populations of individuals under 15 or older than 64 in the transitioning neighborhoods declined by 13,417 between 2001 and 2010, compared to just 1,703 for the rest of the city. Meanwhile the eighteen studied neighborhoods increased their population of people between 15 and 64 by 26,362.

In addition to being younger, the people moving into these neighborhoods also tend to be more prosperous and in search of newer housing units, helping to fuel D.C.’s residential boom. The transitioning neighborhoods saw a 275 percent increase in the number of single-family homes and condominiums in the 10-year period studied, which in turn raised the neighborhoods’ overall tax burdens.

The study was submitted by LaTanya Brown-Robertson, an economics professor at Bowie State University; Daniel Muhammad and Marvin Ward of the D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer; and Michael Bell, a public policy professor at George Washington University.

The 18 neighborhoods listed are:

  • Anacostia
  • Barry Farms
  • Brentwood
  • Brookland
  • Chillum
  • Columbia Heights
  • Congress Heights
  • Deanwood
  • Eckington
  • Fort Dupont Park
  • H Street NE
  • Ledroit Park
  • Lily Ponds
  • Marshall Heights
  • Petworth
  • Randle Heights
  • 16th Street Heights
  • Trinidad
Filed Under: boomtown, d.c. tax review board, gentrification, property taxes,