Ethnic Enclaves (East and South LA)

Ethnic Enclaves refer to the concentration of ethnic groups within a geographic area. East and South LA consist of a predominantly Latino population. Communities such as South Central LA, East LA and Boyle Heights remind Los Angeles of its pioneering spirit and the diverse roots that make our communities beautiful and strong. However, some of the issues that these communities face today include gentrification and significant obstacles to homeownership.

Gentrification is a highly contested issue in these ethnic enclaves. It has the power to displace low-income families or, more often, prevent low-income families from moving into previously affordable neighborhoods. This leads to significant barriers to homeownership in these areas which include affordability, access to credit, immigration status and linguistic isolation.

El Mercado was founded in 1968 by Art Chaya. The founder wanted El Mercado to be a multi-cultural marketplace. It was made for local Mexican, Japanese, and Italian communities. In 1991 a Mexican mural was painted by Jose-Luis Gonzalez. The mural was calling the “Mayan Rain God.”Currently El Mercado is serving all Latinos, but their products are mainly Mexican. El mercado has three floors, The first floor is where all the shoes, beat bucks, and Mexican cultural clothing is. The second floor you can find Latino food products, the last floor is where their two restaurants, each restaurant has their mariachi playing most like on the weekends.  Today El Mercado or “El Mercadito” has vendors outside selling their products because with COVID policies they could not be in their small spaces.  Many of clothes vendors are outside welcoming customers.

The metro station, the gold line runs from East Los Angeles thru Boyle Heights, all the way to down town Los Angles, (The Union Station). One of the stops on the gold line, Mariachi Plaza, on the northwest wall. A mural by Sonia Romero, "Hecho a mano" is located. In the mural you can see object that Romero painted like; a fedora, a father, a violin, a sombrero, a protest sigh, monarch butterflies.

In Boyle Heights, the barriers to homeownership seem to be insurmountable. Since 2010, Boyle Heights, has consistently reported a homeownership rate of only 23%. In comparison with the neighboring communities of El Sereno, Monterey Park, and East Los Angeles, homeownership rates are significantly higher at approximately 48%, 53%, and 34%.

Access to capital is a common obstacle to homeownership for many residents. According to the U.S. Census Bureau the median household income in LA county is $56,196. The median household income in Boyle Heights is $32,463 which is significantly less. This makes it difficult to cover monthly expenses such as rent, utilities, groceries, transportation costs, and still have enough leftover to save for a down payment on a home.

Another challenge that Boyle Heights residents face to secure homeownership is poor credit history or the complete lack of credit history. In a survey that included 400 Boyle Heights residents, they were asked if they have ever applied for a loan to purchase any form of land-based property, 51% responded “No.” Of those that responded “No,” 24% percent identified their credit, or lack of credit, as the central reason.

Moreover, even if Boyle Heights residents attained a decent income, savings and had adequate access to affordable credit and reliable sources of financial information, the rise of home values in the area may still put homeownership out of reach. According to Zillow, the median home value in Boyle Heights has increased from $224,000 in 2012 to $642,000 in today's market. This is a drastic rise in home values that makes the challenge to own a home even more challenging.

Other significant challenges that Boyle Heights residents face is immigration status and linguistic isolation. Nearly one-in-three Boyle Heights residents are non-citizen immigrants. Non-citizen immigrants are individuals that are not United States citizens but may be permanent residents with authorization documents, temporary migrants such as foreign students, humanitarian migrants such as refugees, and migrants without authorization documents.

Many of these immigrants don't have social security which puts them at a disadvantage in the home-owning process and leaves them more likely to have a higher interest rate than traditional mortgages if they are approved. When it comes to households with limited english speakers, navigating the process of purchasing a home including access to bilingual information, applications, and resources can be very difficult. Linguistic isolation is measured by the percentage of households in which all members of the household that are older than 14 years old have at least some difficulty with English. According to the U.S. Census Bureau Boyle Heights is among the cities with a high linguistic isolation rate at 28%.

South Los Angeles was predominately populated by African Americans post World War II as means of segregating minorities into poor neighborhoods. A rise of conflict and problems with Police brutality and the War on Drugs left the African American community in need of change to find a safe location they could call home. Many African American families left South Los Angeles and migrated to places like Palmdale, Lancaster, and Riverside County, Fontana, Rialto, Victorville, and Moreno Valley during 1980-2000.

It was during this time the the influx of LatinX migrants coming from primarily Mexico found their new homes in South Los Angeles, despite there being an already established presence in areas like East Los Angeles and Boyheights, during the 1980's. This influx was caused by a economic crisis in Mexica and Civil Wars in Central America. The African American community went from 88% during the 1970's to being overtaken by the LatinX community 64% by 2010 and by 2016 the LatinX community made up more than two-thirds of the population in South Los Angeles.

There are different aspect that surround the topic of gentrification, but it has become a much more frequent raise of concern for people in South Los Angeles as rent has sky rocketted over the past few years. Along with new venues and stadiums that add to the increase in rent and property value leaving many who do not own a home worried about their financial living situation. Gentrification is not a new concept and it has gradually been seen in South Los Angeles when there was more Jewish and Caucasion community and shifted into a part of the city used to segregate minorities. However, more now than ever there communities can take action against these driving forces.

Locals of South Los Angeles community have taken strives to build and grow with gentrification. Owners of the South La Cafe noticed their community lacked healthy food choices and markets. The seven-mile distance between Sherman Oaks, California, and South LA, is a stark difference in the standard of living. Residents of a wealthier area, were provided more resources than those living in South LA, such as more grocery stores to choose from, more accessibility to public transport, and the speed at which the government fixes streets and sidewalks. As long-term residents of South LA, Celia said and her husband Joe decided to open the South LA Cafe and South LA Market to help fight food insecurity. “The people who live in this community deserve to have access to fresh, healthy and affordable food,” Celia Ward-Wallace said. “They’re no different than any other community, other than that they are predominantly Black, brown and lower income.”

Before his untimely death rapper and entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle devoted his time to building a plan to crowdfund his community and give residents an ownership stake in every project created in their neighborhood. In the months before Hussle was gunned down in front of his clothing store, the rapper was working to bring economic development to the blighted blocks around Slauson and Crenshaw Boulevard, but on his own terms. He wanted more for his community, but he wanted to the changes to be driven from within.

The tax incentive that Hussle and his business partner was planning to tap into was included in Trump’s 2017 overhaul of the federal tax code. It offers large tax breaks to investors who are willing to pour much needed capital into rebuilding poor and sometimes up-and-coming communities that have been designated as “opportunity zones.” Investors can take proceeds that would normally be subjected to capital gains taxes such as sale of a business, stocks or an investment property, and put them into an opportunity zone investment fund to defer and ultimately reduce those taxes.