• Nkozia Bethune
• Opinion
• July 24, 2019
• 2 views

Spike in Home Value & Crime in D.C.

High Crime in DC is Overshadowed by High Housing Value Urban areas across the country have become strategic opportunities for wealthy investors and developers to convert housing in impoverished communities into high-priced homes and condominiums for wealthy buyers. A recent study cited the District of Columbia (D.C.) as having “the highest intensity of gentrification of any U.S. city.”  Therefore, in order to keep attracting wealthy outsiders, true crime statistics are going unreported. It’s no surprise that publication of criminal activity affects the home values of low-income areas targeted in the gentrification takeover. The crimes of D.C. are not formalized, documented or publicized for the communities which are exceedingly affected by violence. Moreover, there is not a centralized platform for local communities to meaningfully fight against the increasing crime and the continuous incompetence of police entrusted to protect them. The more law enforcement keeps crime rates out of the news, the better image the D.C. Metropolitan area has for international investors buying property.  Statistics on the Rise of Crime Crimes are not publicized because of this: The majority of homes are bought without the knowledge of the increase in homicide rates, spiking to 4 percent since 2018, according to the Metropolitan Police Department: CRIME PERCENTAGE % (Increase since 2018) ROBBERY 4% AUTO THEFT 3% ALL THEFT 10% ARSON 100% PROPERTY CRIME 6% HOMICIDE  8% Homes are bought by international and foreign business people, many of whom were able to take advantage of the recession period in 2007-2010 to purchase homes at a low rate and generate high revenue from the home investments. Another Child Dead from Violence & No One Knows May 27th, 2019, a 15 year-old boy was killed just 7 minutes away from the police station in the Congress Heights neighborhood. There were four people fatally shot among 20 injured in the three day span of constant violence in the area. I’m of the belief, the media failed to report this influx in criminal activity, in order to maintain what has come to be viewed as a progressive and “changing”  urban area, which encourages gentrification. When crimes are publicized housing values are lowered drastically.  In many ways, it becomes an intentional act of concealment from the public by the news media not to report these crimes that are affecting the dynamics of long-standing communities and youth. D.C. residents are ill informed of the dangers that plague the D.C. area due to the lack of information reported in attempts to advance the city’s aggressive gentrification craftiness.  Interestingly, these acts of communal eugenics is uncanny to the Tasmanian indigenous people of Australia, whom were pushed out of their communities and exterminated for the interest of white Europeans. Gentrification: Fight Against Eugenics This information supports the constant complaint among many groups that gentrification is becoming genocide for the Afro-American community. We need to begin encouraging the development of organizations within these communities to fight against gun violence, gentrification, and the lack of publication of vital information within community news. According to the Fire and EMS District of Columbia Time Metrics, it takes law enforcement more than 13 minutes to respond to a call.…