Refugee Resettlement and Development in Buffalo
Texte intégral
1. A short introduction to resettlement in Buffalo
1 Buffalo is the top resettlement location in New York State, far outpacing New York City in terms of number of individuals resettled each year. A tabulation of all resettlement in the United States finds Buffalo ranking as the eighth largest refugee destination in the country since 2002 (RPC, 2021, author’s own tabulations).1 Resettlement in Buffalo saw its first sharp increase in 2007. After this, arrivals ebb and flow in response to international dynamics, but with an upward trend of increasing resettlement in the city. Numbers peaked in the final year of the Obama administration in 2016, then plummeted as Trump decreased the admissions cap to historic lows (Table 1). Since 2002, over 15,000 refugees have been resettled in Buffalo.
2One notable feature of Buffalo’s resettlement is the diversity of resettled populations. As Table 1 shows, while refugees coming from Burma, Somalia, Bhutan, Congo, and Iraq clearly are the highest in number, individuals are resettled from a wide range of backgrounds.
Table 1: Refugees resettled in Buffalo, 2005–19 (RPC, 2021).

3 The city has a well-developed resettlement infrastructure, with four resettlement agencies each operating under a different volag. These four agencies (International Institute/U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants [USCRI], Catholic Charities/United States Conference of Catholic Bishops [USCCB], Jewish Family Service/HIAS, and Journey’s End Refugee Services/Church World Service [CWS]) each carry out resettlement services, in addition to an array of other specialised immigrant and refugee services under various programmes.
2. Concentration on the Lower West Side
4Resettlement in Buffalo has been overwhelmingly concentrated on the Lower West Side (LWS), an area located along the Niagara River, and adjacent both to Buffalo’s downtown and the trendy Elmwood Village area. The neighbourhood has a history as a destination for international migrants and remains the most diverse area in the city. It is also one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the city. Resettlement is therefore overlaid, and necessarily interacts with, a legacy of disenfranchisement and poverty along racial/ethnic lines (Image 2, Image 3).
Image 2: Racial dot map of Buffalo based on 2010 census data, demonstrating the rigid racial segregation of the city, as well as the relative diversity of the LWS (Partnership for the Public Good, 2017). Neighbourhood outline added by the author.

Image 3: Poverty rates in Buffalo, based on 2000 census data (Partnership for the Public Good, 2012).

3. Buffalo in the early twentieth century
5With its advantageous location on the Erie Canal, Buffalo was once an industrial powerhouse and a hub for shipping and the grain industry. In the first half of the twentieth century, it was a wealthy city with buildings by star architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, and a parks system by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park in New York. Bolstered by its proximity to Niagara Falls as a source of electricity, it hosted the Pan-American Exposition in 1901 (Goldman, 1983). Buffalo quickly became a prosperous and prominent metropole, ‘America’s great threshold between the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest’ (Christensen, 2020, 1). Its population peaked at 650,000 in 1950.
6Buffalo’s prime was closely tied to global shipping and commerce, but it was also linked to the world through its large immigrant communities. Work in the mills and on the docks attracted successive waves of immigrants to the city who played a large part in this economic success. While diverse groups of immigrants moved to Buffalo, they largely stayed clustered in tight co-ethnic communities across the city. In particular, the LWS became a popular destination for Irish and Sicilian immigrants, who were drawn to the area for its proximity to work on the docks and in canneries (Goldman, 1983). Within this tightly clustered neighbourhood, networks played an important role in these migrations, as often almost entire villages relocated to Buffalo, able to rely on those of the same ethnicity for support once they arrived (ibid.). Anchored by the commercial strip on Grant Street, the area was a bustling economic centre and residential community, hosting many small businesses (mostly owned by Italian families), so that a person ‘didn’t need to leave Grant to get everything he needs’ (Sommer, 2020).
4. Economic decline
7While Buffalo entered the latter half of the twentieth century a powerhouse, challenges were soon to come. Among other factors, the deindustrialisation of US cities in the 1960s and 1970s, new technology for transporting electricity which lessened the relevance of Buffalo’s proximity to Niagara Falls, improvements in trucking and rail transport which moved traffic away from the Erie Canal, all converged to send the city into economic decline. In 1959, the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway diverted shipping away from Canal almost entirely, decreasing Buffalo’s geographic importance for manufacturing. The biggest factory in Buffalo (and the fourth largest in the country), Lackawanna Steel, began slowing operations in the 1970s and eventually closed in 1983. It had employed 20,000 workers. The percentage of the workforce employed in manufacturing decreased significantly 1970–2000, offset only partially by small gains in service sector employment (Kraus, 2004). The city entered a period of economic and demographic decline, in which the population decreased by almost 50 per cent, reaching 350,000 by 2020. Deprived of its industrial base, it entered the twenty-first century short on economic capital.
8Certainly the loss of jobs and economic activity associated with industrial decline was disastrous for the city. Additionally, exclusionary urban planning and disinvestment from the inner city also had negative impacts. Redlining cut off certain neighbourhoods from investment, particularly those with African American or immigrant residents. Simultaneously, Federal Housing Authority loans encouraged white residents to move to the suburbs. Segregation was further cemented by the isolated locations of the public housing that was constructed. By 1958, planners identified trends of extensive white flight, suburbanisation and urban sprawl (Preservation Buffalo Niagara, 2020). Buffalo thus faced a ‘quintuple-disaster […] deindustrialization, racial conflict, suburban dispersion, capital flight, and globalization’ (Shibley et al., 2016).
9In the LWS, the 1950s began an era of urban renewal that tore up the West Side and deepened poverty for its residents. In 1964, the construction of the Interstate-190 highway was completed, cutting off the neighbourhood geographically and economically from the waterfront and downtown. On a larger scale, the construction of the I-190 and other highways at this time facilitated and accelerated white flight to the suburbs (Cadzow, 2018). Through the demolition-happy mid-twentieth century, ‘newspaper dispatches on the area were suffused with the clichés of renewal: neglect, blight, change, and the surety that “you cannot build until you destroy”’ (Wypejewski, 1994). This legacy remains: today, Buffalo is both one of the most segregated and one of the poorest cities in the country.
5. Redevelopment efforts in Buffalo
10This is not the story we see today. By 2015, Buffalo was ‘experiencing near-euphoria over what seems like a sudden change in fortune’ (Shibley & Hovey, 2016). How did we get here? This section details the economic and geographic changes Buffalo saw in the first decades of the twenty-first century, as well as the city’s redevelopment efforts. It explores the entanglement of resettlement with the economic trajectory of the city, and the way city leaders position refugees within their regeneration narratives (Çağlar & Glick Schiller, 2018).
Table 2: Population of Buffalo (American Community Survey 1850 - 2015)

Table 3: Foreign-born residents as % of population of Buffalo (American Community Survey 1850 – 2015)

11The first decade of the twenty-first century was an era marked demographically by the rise in the presence of refugees, and economically, by the first signs of today’s development. In this decade, Buffalo’s population loss finally began to slow (Table 2). Population data from the American Community Survey reveals that in 2005 the relative percentage of population that was foreign-born also began climbing again (Table 3).
12Narratively, city plans for redevelopment in the new millennium reveal a desire to restore former glory: ‘in 2030 Buffalo will be the Queen City of the Great Lakes once more, growing again, renewed, and rebuilt from its foundations, a model of smart growth and sustainability’ (City of Buffalo, 2004, 4). Buffalo remembers its industrial past, proclaiming that leveraging its modern assets, including its location on the Canadian border, its green space and institutions of education, science and medicine ‘will give Buffalo the economic leverage that the crowded wharves and glutted warehouses of its harbor and the Erie Canal provided in the 19th century’ (City of Buffalo, 2004, 5).
13Policy-wise, this first decade saw a particular form of rightsizing, although perhaps less straightforward as compared to Detroit’s mayor’s announcement of downsizing plans in 2010. In Buffalo, development concentrated around downtown, and most vacancy was in poor and minority city neighbourhoods (Silverman et al., 2013). The city publicly focused on vacancy as ‘one of the most important issues facing our community’, in 2007 announcing an aggressive ‘5-in-5 plan’ to demolish 5,000 buildings within five years (Weaver & Knight, 2018).
14In some ways, the trajectory of development in Buffalo echoes processes of urban restructuring and austerity urbanism outlined elsewhere (Brenner & Theodore, 2002; Hackworth, 2015), articulated through large developments, public-private partnerships, and emphasis on entrepreneurship. Redevelopment has also been pursued via attempts to restructure the economy towards tech and health (Silverman et al., 2013). In 2012, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan for major State investment in the city, which focused on strengthening three sectors—advanced manufacturing, health and life sciences, and tourism—along three core strategies – entrepreneurship, workforce, and smart growth (New York State, 2016). The ‘Buffalo Billion’ funding led to mega-projects including SolarCity, a massive solar panel factory to be leased to Tesla, and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, hosting six different medical providers and the University at Buffalo’s medical school. These projects were meant to re-use brownfield or vacant sites, bring activity to the inner city and create jobs for local residents. The Buffalo Billion funding also reflected the emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship, for example creating 43North, a start up competition and business incubator.
15Plans to welcome large-scale builds and welcoming private capital investments are indicative of this shift (Cope & Latcham, 2009). The city has been criticised for catering to private developers, giving tax breaks for the construction of pricey loft-style apartments (PPG, 2017). Further, a small handful of developers are awarded the majority of new projects (PPG, 2017, Interviewee A3). All of this reflects the idea that the entrepreneurial city must win out against other competitive cities to attract private investment (Harvey, 2005).
16Another important aspect of development in Buffalo has been a focus on streetscapes and aesthetics. Buffalo Billion funds also went towards beautification efforts such as a new park and bike trails in the Outer Harbor. Revitalisation efforts focused on the waterfront, redesigning the Canal side area with the creation of new pedestrian areas and an outdoor ice rink, as well as the USD 170 million Harbor Center sports and entertainment complex. In 2006, the new Green Code was implemented, entailing a full-scale overhaul of zoning laws, allowing for new builds and presenting a new vision for development in Buffalo. The Code is form-based, addressing the ‘look, feel and function of urban space as a whole’, rather than separating areas by use (for example industrial, residential, mixed-use). The Grant Street Revitalization Project, which allocated USD 400,000 in a combination of public and private funding to the Grant Street corridor, took ‘a two-pronged attack’, prioritising streetscape (storefront revitalisation) and infrastructure improvements (Epps, 2019; Sommer, 2019).
17This emphasis on aesthetics and streetscapes lends itself to attracting a particular type of resident and consumer (Florida, 2002). While this innovative framing has promising elements, reflecting criticisms of other creative class development, the focus on streetscapes can risk a ‘latte cultural imperialism’, where preferences for certain aesthetics and types of building use will crowd out others (Kinney, 2017). Critics also express concerns over uneven development –while the Green Code does not actively discriminate against certain neighbourhoods, it lies on a history of segregation and disenfranchisement, and fails to actively address equity issues by taking a ‘neutral’ approach (ibid.).
18While much of the city’s redevelopment efforts focused on downtown, some attention was also awarded to the LWS, and later to other struggling neighbourhoods such as the East Side. In the first decade of the twenty-first century small changes were led by individual entrepreneurs, such as local Prish Moran who bought seven apartments and five storefronts and rehabbed them to open Sweetness_7, a café with an artsy ambience worthy of Brooklyn. Then, the 2010s marked a new era of attention from State and larger development actors. Assemblyman Sean Ryan located his office in a new building on the Grant commercial strip, and has focused his attention on development along Grant Street, notably with the aforementioned Grant Street Revitalization Project.
19The LWS certainly looks and feels different than it used to. In the last few years, many new storefronts have opened up, largely services such as corner stores and phone/tech shops, and groceries and restaurants catering to an international customer base. The impact of refugee communities is clearly visible in this neighbourhood, where formerly vacant storefronts now boast signs in Burmese, Somali, and Nepali (Image 4).
20Rent prices on the LWS are also increasing, at a higher rate than other neighbourhoods (PPG, 2020). In terms of racial dynamics, the white population is increasing (Coley & Adelman, 2020). The LWS is also experiencing some of the aesthetic changes associated with gentrification – new bars, coffee shops, and businesses such as record stores catering to a particular socioeconomic and racial group (Image 5). Walking into Sweetness_7, one can enjoy locally made fare (my choice, a ‘Spanish scramble’ made of eggs, cheese, chorizo, tomato and hash browns (USD 10), and a real maple syrup latte (USD 4.50), and on Sundays, even be treated to a jazz brunch.
21Particular acclaim has been awarded to the West Side Bazaar, a marketplace and small business incubator for refugees (Image 6). The mayor praised the Bazaar because it ‘creates new businesses, new jobs and builds on Buffalo’s efforts to stabilise neighbourhoods and grow its economy city-wide’ (Buffalo Rising, 2017a). In fact, the West Side Bazaar has been the focal point of much of the local and national attention on Buffalo’s rebirth. When Katie Couric, broadcast journalist famous for NBC’s Today Show, travelled to Buffalo to create an episode of her series Cities Rising: Rebuilding America, she made three stops: 43N, a business incubator and part of the Buffalo Billion, the newly renovated waterfront Canal side area, and the West Side Bazaar.
Image 4: A Somali market on Grant Street (LaChiusa, 2014)

Image 5: A recently renovated storefront on Grant Street, hosting a vintage store (Paloma Exchange, 2021).

Image 6: Local representatives including NYS Assembly member Jon Rivera, NYS Senator Sean Ryan, Congressman Brian Higgins, Hope Knight of Empire State Development (NYS’ economic development agency), and Director of Development in the Office of Strategic Planning for the City of Buffalo Lisa Hicks, stand with WEDI representatives at the groundbreaking for a new West Size Bazaar location (WEDI, 2022).

6. Official welcoming
22In 2015, Buffalo’s Mayor opened a new Office of New Americans (ONA) at City Hall, to ‘ensure that Buffalo remains a welcoming city and a preferred resettlement site in the United States’ (City of Buffalo, n.d.). According to its web page, the office acts as a liaison between city government and New American communities, ensures accessible services and meets with New American community members to understand how to best serve them. While they ostensibly work to support all New American communities in Buffalo (immigrants, refugees, international students and others), most of their content and language has a clear focus on resettled refugee populations. In 2016 they published the City of Buffalo New Americans Study: A strategic action plan to advance immigrant and refugee integration and success. This document contains recommendations for better supporting refugee groups in the city, however no evaluation or follow up has been publicly released.
23The city has embarked on symbolic gestures such as hosting and attending the Karen traditional wrist-tying ceremony on the steps of City Hall, or raising a flag proudly reading Refugees Welcome in the central downtown square. The mayor has also joined national welcoming networks and pacts, including Welcoming America, Cities United for Immigration Action, and the Building Welcoming Communities Campaign, and participated in an Immigration Summit hosted by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (City of Buffalo, 2016, 5).
24Narratives about development often draw parallels to the historic contributions of immigrants. The account of the LWS as a diverse immigrant neighbourhood is a key part of the resettlement-for-development narrative in Buffalo. The Grant Street Revitalization Project states in a project backgrounder that ‘Grant Street began its current pattern of growth as a vibrant neighbourhood commercial hub of the West Side, allowing successive waves of immigrants to build both homes and businesses, directly serving the community and building wealth from the inside out’ (Preservation Buffalo Niagara, 2020).
7. Standing up for resettlement
25The Mayor’s Office echoes the leadership of the three case studies in Çağlar & Glick Schiller’s (2018) research–Manchester, New Hampshire (NH), USA, Halle, Germany, and Mardin, Turkiye–who ‘responded to the disempowered situation of their city and the challenge of restructuring by embracing a welcoming narrative that cast newcomers and returning minorities as crucial to urban development’ (93). The importance of resettlement to Buffalo was made clear by the city’s reaction to Trump administration cutbacks to the USRAP. The first year President Trump took office, he reduced former President Obama’s ceiling for 2017 from 110,000 to 50,000. The subsequent four years saw the ceiling decreasing yearly to historical lows. In 2018, the State Department called for volags to decrease their number of local affiliates, consolidate offices, and mandated closure of any sites that resettled less than 100 refugees. Further, intensified vetting processes and bans on arrivals from specific countries complicated processes, and led to the expiration of health and security screenings for many cases who had already been approved for resettlement (RCUSA, 2019). This dismantling of the resettlement system at the local level caused great concern. Darrow & Scholl (2020) describe a relationship of resource dependency, wherein resettlement agencies rely on governmental agencies for clients and funding, leaving them extremely vulnerable to cuts at the national level. Indeed, Trump-era cuts were disastrous for agencies across the country: as of 2019, Refugee Council USA reported that 51 agencies had closed permanently, and 41 agencies had suspended resettlement services (RCUSA, 2019). Remaining agencies had to scramble to diversify funding sources to remain in operation.
26In Buffalo, due to the fact that many agencies already hosted diverse programming beyond resettlement, they were able to stay afloat even as arrivals shrank to barely a trickle of new cases (Interviewee R3, Klotzbach & DePasquale, 2018). Beyond just the impact on resettlement agencies themselves, however, narratives coming out of Buffalo (and other cities) noted the toll that the cuts took on the city and society at large (Zremski, 2018c; Hill, 2018). Local politicians spoke out in support of resettlement, including Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, and New York State Governor Cuomo, who responded to the 2018 cuts with a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (Tan, 2019). Cuomo asserted his wish to see resettlement continue in Buffalo, through all four agencies, stating ‘[w]e are proud to serve as a home for refugees across the state who are breathing new life into their communities as members of the family of New York, and we will always stand with our immigrant communities’ (Cuomo, 2018).
Notes de bas de page
1 Author’s own tabulations of data sourced from the Refugee Processing Center arrivals database. Data availability begins in 2002.

Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence Creative Commons - Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International - CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.
The Development of International Refugee Protection through the Practice of the UN Security Council
Christiane Ahlborn
2010
The SWIFT Affair
Swiss Banking Secrecy and the Fight against Terrorist Financing
Johannes Köppel
2011
The Evolving Patterns of Lebanese Politics in Post-Syria Lebanon
The Perceptions of Hizballah among Members of the Free Patriotic Movement
Fouad Ilias
2010
La justice internationale à l'épreuve du terrorisme
Défis, enjeux et perspectives concernant la Commission d'enquête internationale indépendante (UNIIIC) et le Tribunal spécial pour le Liban
Sébastien Moretti
2009
Aut Dedere, aut Judicare: The Extradite or Prosecute Clause in International Law
Claire Mitchell
2009