CITY COLLEGE–Sumiya Akhter and her family moved to the Kensington neighborhood in 2012 when they immigrated from Bangladesh. The Bengali grocery stores, mosques, and parks nearby made it feel welcoming. Now they worry if they can afford to live there. “We’ve looked for other apartments in the neighborhood, but the prices are much worse than what we pay now,” Akhter said.
Akhter is struggling to find a three bedroom apartment for her six member household in Kensington that is affordable. “If rent keeps rising, I don’t know if we’ll be able to stay here.”
Other families share Akhter’s frustration. Rising rent is forcing longtime residents to reconsider whether they can afford to stay in the communities like Kensington, and neighboring Borough Park, that they’ve called home for years. Residents and city officials dubbed Kensington, “Little Bangladesh.”
