Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
My family is currently displaced from our home. A small leak in my ceiling turned into a discovery of water damage and has my family living in Airbnbs for the foreseeable future. Hopefully that “foreseeable future” gets an estimated end date soon, but for now, we’re borrowing other people’s homes. As such, my family is currently staying in a true-to-life transitioning neighborhood in the northeast area of Washington, D.C. Why do I say it’s transitioning? I’m glad you asked. For starters, by transitioning, I mean there’s gentrification happening over here. The home prices are insane; a block away from the house where I’m staying is a home currently listed at nearly $1.4 million. It is a rowhouse — an end-unit rowhouse, but a rowhouse nonetheless. At the same time, there are what look like lower-priced apartment buildings surrounding this neighborhood.
The point here is that the mix of people is quite interesting. I see folks who have clearly spent a lot of money on their renovated and updated homes next to homes that have seen better days next to apartments that seem … unloved by their property owners. The neighborhood abuts a few major streets in the area that have seen some significant investment on the part of the city; there are new-ish grocery stores and luxury apartments and restaurants near a McDonald’s I wouldn’t go to even if my life depended on it, which it feels like it would if I were to go to it. Funny how that happens.
The home I’m in is very lovely; it’s been a wonderful space for my family. We were here over Halloween this year, and we took the kids trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. So it’s been fine for us, but I’ve definitely observed some things about the area while…
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