White Man Blues

This project is trying to reverse gentrification by bringing people back to Seattle’s Central District

When Andrese Collins bumps into people he grew up with in the Central District, the conversation always starts the same way: “Where you’d go?”

Most of his childhood acquaintances have moved away as Seattle’s historic Black neighborhood has changed and become more expensive — to places like Kent, Everett and Federal Way. Collins and his grandmother relocated to South Seattle when he was in high school, leaving behind the playground where he made friends and the stores where his grandmother liked to shop.

“A lot of us have moved south or north,” the 24-year-old said. “That makes it harder to stay in touch. We don’t see each other that much anymore.”

But the Central District remains special to Collins, so he was intrigued when he heard about subsidized apartments opening up this year at a new housing complex at 23rd Avenue and South Jackson Street: 74 rent-capped units, including half reserved for people with longstanding ties to the neighborhood.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/this-project-is-tryin...