Brooklyn’s Bengali Community Faces Challenges with Rising Rent

BROOKLYN, NY

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,” 

Beloved local spots like Abdullah Sweets, known for its wide selection of traditional Bangladeshi sweets such as chomchom and roshogolla, draw families from across the borough. Ghoroa Restaurant, a cozy eatery on Church Avenue, offers homestyle favorites like tehari and kacchi biryani, making it a go-to for comforting meals. Bangla Nagar Supermarket provides fresh halal meat that serves as a staple in many Bengali households. These shops along with Halal butchers, Bengali-language schools, and mosques that  line Church Avenue hold the community together. 

 But Kensington’s median listing home price went up 6.2% year-over-year, according to Realtor.com.

There’s also another challenge. Census data shows Bangladeshi families in New York tend to be larger than average and that means they need three-bedroom apartments or more.  Finding an affordable three-bedroom apartment for her six member household has been impossible for Akhter and her family. They, like others, don’t want to move to a different borough because of rising rent and leave a neighborhood they helped shape.

Longtime resident S.Z. didn’t want us to use her full name. She and her family moved to Borough Park 13 years ago. “When we first came, the Bengali community here was so strong. We could shop at B-Town Supermarket, speak in Bangla, and feel at home,” S.Z. said. “But rent hikes are forcing many families to move out. During COVID, I saw a lot of Bengali neighbors move to the Bronx or even Buffalo for cheaper housing. My own family has thought about leaving too.”

For Akhter and S.Z., the thought of leaving Kensington and Borough Park is devastating. Akhter’s family has also considered moving upstate like some of their relatives, and S.Z. is looking into Queens as a more affordable option. “My parents just want to be somewhere where there’s a Bengali community,” S.Z. said. “I’ve been looking at TikToks of apartments in Queens. It’s more space for less money but leaving Borough Park would still be hard.” 

“We love our home, our neighborhood, our community,” Akhter said. “But if rent keeps going up, I don’t know if we have a choice.”

City Council Member Shahana Hanif, the first Bangladeshi woman elected to the City Council, represents Kensington, Borough Park and surrounding neighborhoods. She is a longtime advocate for tenant protections and affordable housing and has worked to push policies that stabilize rents and protect immigrant communities from displacement. “We worked tirelessly to ensure that 20% of new units in developments will be priced at 40% of the area median income,” says Hanif. “This will make these units accessible to low- and middle-income New Yorkers.” 

In a recent newsletter, Hanif stated, “There’s still much more work to do. We must enforce strict affordability standards on developers, collaborate with our state partners to advance a social housing development authority, preserve our existing affordable housing stock, and ensure that the Rent Guidelines Board doesn’t raise rents for rent-stabilized tenants.”

In December 2024, the City Council voted for Mayor Eric Adams’ rezoning plan called  “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.” It is intended to create more affordable housing. How that will affect Kensington and Borough Park is unclear.