Black people in Charleston, South Carolina are no strangers to gentrification . Over the past several decades, due to “ overtly racist policies and practices ” to turn Charleston into a tourism hotspot , they’ve been forced out. They begrudgingly abandoned their historically Black communities because they could no longer afford high property taxes or elevated insurance costs which resulted when developers built luxury homes there for wealthy whites.
The most recent type of gentrification in Charleston— called climate gentrification —may be the worst yet. But this time, Black residents are organizing, standing up for their communities, and staying in their homes, often on ancestral lands. Environmental conservation of the South Carolina coastline and adjacent wetlands is a welcome side effect of Black residents’ efforts to say no to climate gentrification in Charleston.
Gentrification in Charleston
In 2017, Charleston was rated the fastest gentrifying city in the United States, according to a survey by Realtor.com . Its modern-day gentrification spiral began in 2001, when low-income Shoreview Apartments, located downtown, was razed and replaced with single-family homes of greater value. Soon after, other Black neighborhoods shifted toward white, middle-class families who could afford to live there.