MA real estate and race (Boston, Brockton: townhouse, neighborhood, buying)

[Whatsnext75]

In all honesty why is anyone entitled to a voucher for anything. Particularly someone making 90k a year. Why does she get a voucher but her neighbor doesnt? Voucher systems are unfair.

[GeePee]

The whole thing is setting a racist tone but this woman states that she doesn't want to live in a white neighborhood. But she also can't believe she ended up in Brockton. It's a sad sad state that we are in right now.

[Whatsnext75]

Well in all fairness she said lily white lol. Im guessing she doesnt want to end up in hingham or something. But it is ridiculous all these things people want and then whine that they cant afford. There is no perfect place.

In high school I had 2 friends that lived in brockton in nice neighborhoods. One guy's dad was a dentist and the guy went on to harvard. Both attended private school and it worked out for them. Not all of brockton is awful.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by GeePee

"With a price tag limit of$275,000, little money for a down payment, and no desire to buy a fixer-upper, Cordova, a 34-year-old single mother of Puerto Rican and African-American descent, felt she had few other options."

"Yet when she started looking for a house, leaving the city was not an option. Suarez grew up there"

"She dreams of moving to a more prosperous town, with better schools for Ethan and more professionals living next door. At the same time, she doesn’t want to raise her son in a lily-white town"

Im not sure what this woman want even exists.

It doesn't, at least not in eastern MA. Some of the Worcester 'burbs come close to her wants, but the diversity in towns like Shrewsbury is largely Asian (e.g., Indian, South Asian, Chinese). Wealthy AA communities, due to red lining and other factors, simply do not exist in MA outside of a few small enclaves.

The problem with communities such as Brockton is those who are upwardly mobile, regardless of race, tend to move out. Economic diversity in AA communities has been dropping since the late '60's due to the reduction in redlining. Turns out white, brown, or blue, the upwardly mobile seek to escape poor neighborhoods ... nothing new there.

[Whatsnext75]

I still cant help but wonder why she felt forced to buy in brockton. Why not rent in a cheaper area of Dorchester or hyde park? Both are closer to boston and are nicer neighborhoods that she could likely afford. People just feel this need to buy regardless of their circumstances. She could rent for a while and maybe she'd meet a nice guy and she could buy a place with him. Now she is stuck with owning in brockton and i dont see that place gentrifying anytime soon whatsoever.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

It doesn't, at least not in eastern MA. Some of the Worcester 'burbs come close to her wants, but the diversity in towns like Shrewsbury is largely Asian (e.g., Indian, South Asian, Chinese). Wealthy AA communities, due to red lining and other factors, simply do not exist in MA outside of a few small enclaves.

The problem with communities such as Brockton is those who are upwardly mobile, regardless of race, tend to move out. Economic diversity in AA communities has been dropping since the late '60's due to the reduction in redlining. Turns out white, brown, or blue, the upwardly mobile seek to escape poor neighborhoods ... nothing new there.

This is the point of the article. Wealth is generally lacking in Massachusetts. Racial inequalities lead to stark racial segregation. That's the overall point of the article. These sort of middle class intergrated AA communities don't exist in MA but they do in virtually every other state on the Eastern Seaboard with a sizable African American population (yes, even Connecticut). So I'm excluding RI VT NH ME.


The real estate in mass being so expensive due to exclusionary zoning laws has made it very difficult to break patterns of segregation in this state. I will bet in 30 years we'll be wondering why all the black people in Mass live in southeastern Mass in the Boston-Brockton-Providence Corridor...the reason being is a lack of a southwest expressway or rapid transit providing easy access to the high paying jobs downtown and a physical proximity to Roxbury Dorchester Hyde Park and Mattapan. The area is just such a bargain compared to the suburbs to the west or to the far north. In time, middle class towns like Holbrook Dedham Stoughton Quincy and Avon will become more and more like Randolph and there will be more options for buyers like Ms. Cordova. What remains to be seen is the development of a Latino middle class in MA/CT/RI.

[GeePee]

Owning a house vs. renting is a very noble goal. Complaining that you cant afford the neighborhood you want and then blaming it on racism is absurd. I bought a CONDO because I could not afford a house in Boston. And that has to do with my income. Who should i complain to? furthermore this WOMAN makes more than I do so there goes all the gender inequality. and shes a lot darker than I am. Maybe its time people just stop crying about injustice when they cant have their dream life handed to them.

[Whatsnext75]

Yeah she should be complaining that she ended up a single mother. That's really the problem. Her salary is very good especially considering she's only 34 and still has lots of room to grow. Daycare costs can really hold someone back...but what can you do.

[wolfgang239]

So she makes $90k, decided she wanted to buy (not continue renting), very little money for a down payment, zero interest in fixing up a home. Sounds like she is also competing with 99% of buyers in the area.

Head scratchers:

- Specifically avoids "seedy" neighborhoods in Boston when she travels to work. (Even the "worst" are on par w/Brockton)
- Complains about living/raising children in "lily-white" neighborhoods.

So where exactly did she expect to end up? It seems like the first woman chose wisely given her circumstances. The issues she and the other person featured in the article have appear to be personal or financial, and just by chance perpetuate the problems outlined in the article. She could have picked a few other places if she wasn't so closed minded (condo, fixer upper, different town, preferring to stay with own race) Their personal preferences/financial limitations don't really belong alongside the data and studies cited by the Globe.

[massnative71]

I know many from Brockton (some who went to Brockton High), who graduated up until the late 90s. All turned out to be normal, well-rounded people. Has Brockton really gotten that much worse over the years? I thought it was even improving through the mid-2000s.