A MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER
When School Closures Become Real Estate Opportunities
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
There is a question that must be asked plainly, boldly, and without apology: When Broward closes schools and opens the door to “affordable housing,” who exactly is it affordable for?
Because if history has taught us anything, it is this: What is labeled “affordable” is often anything but for the very people who have lived, learned, and built community on that land for generations.
Sacred Ground or Strategic Opportunity?
The land surrounding Norfolk Elementary is not just property.
Native Americans say its sacred ground.
It sits along the river, prime waterfront real estate in a city where land near water is currency. It rests in the path of expanding rail development, where access and mobility will soon translate into even greater value.
Likewise, Seagull School is positioned next to one of the busiest gateways in South Florida adjacent to the Fort Lauderdale International Airport and a stone’s throw from one of the busiest and most diverse ports in the nation, Port Everglades.
That is not overlooked land. That is strategic land.
So, let’s not pretend.
When schools like these are discussed for closure, we must ask: Is this about declining enrollment—or rising land value?
The Pattern We Know Too Well
We have seen this story before.
A community often Black, often working-class is told: The school is underutilized; The budget is strained; The land can be “repurposed”
Then comes the promise: “Affordable housing is coming.”
But what follows?
*Rising property values
*New residents with higher incomes
*Longtime residents priced out
A cultural and political shift in the community
And eventually… The very people the plan was supposed to help can no longer afford to stay.
Affordable for Whom?
Let’s be clear.
“Affordable housing” is often based on Area Median Income (AMI) not the income of the people actually living in the surrounding neighborhood.
So, when developers say “affordable,” what they may really mean is: Affordable to someone moving into the community and not necessarily to those already living within it
In the Norfolk area, surrounded by low-income families, this distinction matters.
Because the question is not just: Will housing be built?
The real question is: Will the people who live there now be able to live there then?
Gentrification by Another Name?
Let’s call it what it may be:
Is this another phase of gentrification sanitized through policy language?
Because when you remove a neighborhood school; introduce new housing tied to outside income brackets; leverage prime real estate locations and fail to guarantee protections for current residents
You are not just changing buildings. You are changing culture, economics and yes, the voting power of the community
Communities do not just disappear overnight.
They are replaced incrementally, strategically, and permanently.
A Community Deserves Answers
Before any decision is made, the people deserve clarity:
*What income levels will qualify for this “affordable housing”?
*How many current residents will meet those thresholds?
*What protections are in place to prevent displacement?
*Will there be ownership opportunities or only rentals?
*Who are the developers and who benefits most?
And perhaps the most important question is:
Why is it that land becomes valuable only after the community that sustained it is pushed aside?
More Than Land—It’s Legacy
Schools like Norfolk Elementary are more than buildings.
They are Memories, Legacies and Stability
They are where generations learned not just academics but identity, pride, and possibility.
To remove them without a plan that centers the people is not redevelopment.
It is erasure.
The Bottom Line
If Broward County truly seeks to create affordable housing, then let it be:
*Affordable to the people who live there now
*Protective of those at risk of displacement
*Transparent in its intent and execution
Anything less raises a troubling possibility: That this is not about housing.
It’s about who gets to live where and who no longer does.
And in a community already fighting to hold its ground, that is a question we cannot afford to ignore.
