Residents of downtown neighborhoods, including Oakland, Roosevelt and Willo Historic Districts, are saying goodbye to their heavily sought-after property.
According to Downtown adjunct professor Luisa Stark, many of the original residents in neighboring areas of the Downtown campus are being forced to leave.
Stark - who is also the director of Community Housing Partnership, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing for low-income people - said with the new demographic coming into the area, "many people of lower incomes who had been living in the areas near ASU's Downtown campus were forced to leave due to the rise in the cost of housing."
Stark said that students are a major attraction to downtown Phoenix investors since many students are looking for housing around campus.
"New owners buy property around campus and rent it to students, who usually can pay more," Stark said.
"Many people who have lived in these areas their whole lives and have been good tenants are being pushed out of the neighborhood because they couldn't afford living there anymore," she added.
Lulu Hernandez, 18, is a resident of Oakland, a small Phoenix neighborhood near ASU. Hernandez said she has watched the area change with time.
"Now there are buildings around the corner that cost so much money ... I see people I have never seen before walk down the street," Hernandez said.
"They are building for all these rich people while others are being kicked out of the neighborhood," she added.
According to Hernandez, her best friend was one resident forced to leave her home.
"Some guy bought their house and re-did everything," Hernandez said.
Debra Friedman, the dean of the College of Public Programs and a Downtown professor, said there are many different ways to look at what is happening with the downtown neighborhoods.
"We have all heard that people have been leaving their houses because of a raise in price, but what is the actual relationship between ASU Downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods?" she said.
The College of Public Programs is offering a new class titled The Social, Economic and Human Capital of Heighborhoods, where Friedman and her students are examining the issues dealing with the area's neighboring campus.
"Students are actively involved in the Garfield area, doing interviews with residents, businesses, social services and religious organizations - getting to know the neighborhood really well," Friedman said.
"We have been learning a lot about our surroundings from a social-scientific point of view," she added.
"For all we know so far, the existence of ASU Downtown also brings many benefits to these same neighborhoods," Friedman said.
Reach the reporter at: amanda.soares@asu.edu.
