Bronx building boom leads to a population comeback not seen in over 40 years

A recent report from the New York Building Congress outlined how the Bronx had outpaced four-year frontrunner Brooklyn for the most residential permits issued, which was attributed in large part to the affordable housing push in the borough. And a story in the Times today takes a wider look at the borough’s resurgence, noting that this building boom has led to a “population comeback” not seen since the 1970s.

Grand Concourse courtesy of Welcome2TheBronx

6sqft previously explained the residential boom: “During the first six months of 2016, the Bronx [accounted] for nearly 32 percent of all permitted units, a major jump from its 11 percent average over the past four years.” Additionally, of all units under Mayor de Blasio’s affordable housing plan that began construction in the first half of this year, 43 percent were in the Bronx.

The borough’s population has been growing at an annual rate of one percent since 2010, the highest of any county in the state, thanks to an influx of immigrants. According to the Census Bureau, the Bronx’s population reached 1.455 million as of July 1, 2015, which is ahead of the pre-“Bronx is Burning” population height of 1970 at 1.472 million. Back then, factors such as high crime and arson led to an exodus where the population declined to 1.169 million. This “white flight” repeated itself from 2007 to 2014, when 30,000 more whites left the borough.

But now, from 2014 to 2015, fewer than 1,000 whites left, while 13,000 foreign immigrants moved in, a three percent increase in the foreign-born population. Additionally, 50,000 more people are employed in the Bronx than five years ago.

[Via NYT]

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