A third of Black, Latino buyers in Worcester moving to unstable neighborhoods
Photo | Grant Welker
Storefronts in Worcester's Main South neighborhood
One third of Black and Latino homebuyers moving to Worcester are buying in what a Boston research nonprofit calls unstable neighborhoods.
Such areas, MassINC said in a new report Monday, are plagued with high poverty rates, long-term residential vacancies and transient populations. Anecdotally, MassINC found, many of these Black and Latino buyers are being priced out of pricy Boston neighborhoods and buying in places like Worcester, Springfield, Brockton, Lynn or other Gateway Cities in hopes of gaining stability and home equity.
In Worcester's case, hundreds of such new residents have been moving into unstable neighborhoods since 2010, MassINC said. The report didn't specify which areas of the city were included.
Among new Black homebuyers in Worcester, 32%, or 274 households, bought in these poorer neighborhoods. Among Latinos, 33%, or 500 households, did. Mortgages to Latino buyers in Worcester rose by 85% in the decade ending in 2017, MassINC said, and those for Black homeowners rose by 38%. Both of those figures buck trends in Boston of fewer mortgages going to those minority groups.
Worcester's rate of residents moving into economically troubled neighborhoods is roughly in line with other gateway cities, though in some cases rates are even significantly higher. Among Latino residents for example, more than half moving to Lynn, New Bedford or Springfield are moving into unstable areas. Among Black residents, 46% of those moving to Springfield and New Bedford have moved into such neighborhoods.
MassINC calls in the report for greater federal and state spending on neighborhood improvements, including resources to buy and fix blighted properties. Research shows neighborhood conditions affecting individual well-being and influencing whether children born into poor families experience upward mobility, the nonprofit said.
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