‘Us vs. them’: Can Fort Worth address gentrification before it’s too late?

Fort Worthians know their city is rapidly growing with some 20,000 new residents moving to the city annually. With growth comes the need for more affordable housing.

As more housing pops up across Fort Worth, preserving existing neighborhoods has never been more important or challenging. Four panelists discussed growth, housing and what can be done to combat gentrification during a Fort Worth Report event Dec. 6 at Texas Wesleyan University.

Adding more diverse housing is a good thing and is needed to ensure a variety of options for residents, said Mike Brennan, president of Near Southside Inc. and one of the panelists.

“It’s critical that density takes the right form depending on the location,” Brennan said. He referred to this as “density by design,” explaining that it must be of a high standard that lives up to the test of time and fits in with the surrounding neighborhood.

Density also can be a triggering word, said Shawn Lassiter, BRAVE/R Together executive director and panelist. She shared the importance of having resources built around emerging dense population pockets to allow communities to thrive.

She pointed out that ZIP code 76104, the area code BRAVE/R Together works in, is a desert of all sorts. While some affordable housing projects have come up in the Historic Southside, there are no grocery stores or clinics in the vicinity, Lassiter said.

“So when you talk about density, I think we’re up for it,” she said, “but if you’re not going to make that parallel to resources like a grocery store and healthcare, then it’s pretty dangerous.”

David Moreno

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Fort Worth Report

To ensure the right density for the right area, planning is crucial, said panelist Stacy Marshall, president and CEO of Southeast Fort Worth Inc. Since taking over as head of the organization nine years ago, Marshall said focusing on certain parts of southeast Fort Worth has yielded better results.

More workforce housing lifts the area’s household incomes, which then attracts grocers, clinics and other amenities, Marshall said.

“We want to make sure that we’re very methodical and thinking things through,” he said.

But gentrification has already started taking its course in some neighborhoods of Fort Worth. A prime example is the growth of the Near Southside into the predominantly working-class Hispanic neighborhood of Hemphill.

Brennan said the issue is often portrayed as large developers looking to encroach on residents and small business owners. The conversation needs to be rephrased with more context, he said, considering that many of the lots are too small to accommodate such large developments.

“I think there’s a potential to sort of change that conversation from a more us versus them conversation to shared vision,” Brennan said. “It just requires that coordinated planning and open conversation.”

In other places, the rising cost of housing has changed neighborhoods and who can afford to live there.

Joel Burns, former Fort Worth City Council member and board chair of Housing Channel, recalls buying his home in Ryan Place 20 years ago. Today, that same house would be unaffordable to him.

Burns said it’s important to explore non-traditional forms of housing, whether it’s missing middle housing or accessory dwelling units. Not everyone can afford, needs or wants a single-family house, he said.

Another key obstacle is educating folks on the possibilities and not being afraid to change things, he said.

“There’s a lot of NIMBY folks who will come stand on your necks and jump up and down and make your next reelection really hard if you don’t do the things that they want. And from that place of fear, a lot of our leaders operate from this place of, ‘Let’s keep things the way they are,’” Burns said.

Over the past year, Fort Worth has been exploring different ways to tackle its affordable housing crisis, including a land bank, community land trust and zoning for missing middle housing.

The city also created a Neighborhood Conservation Plan and Affordable Housing Strategy that provides guidance on preserving Fort Worth’s neighborhoods while ensuring housing is attainable for everyone.

“It’s been very important to not show up to a community with a plan already created,” Lassiter said. “It’s important to come (with a) blank slate and say, ‘What is it that you need?’ and not to force a particular vision on people because that is the battle of gentrification.”

Sandra Sadek is a Report for America corps member, covering growth for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at sandra.sadek@fortworthreport.org.

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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.