When the first rumblings of 'homesteading' in Injin Country started a few people asked my advice. I always said no, nope, never, don't do it...eventually you will become one of the herd of gazelles trying to make it across the Serengeti...iow, lunch.
Harlem has always been a “block by block” deal. That’s much different than, say, Brooklyn or Da Bronx.
I know multiple middle class black families families who have moved into Harlem over the past five years. And these aren’t/weren’t cheap homes. We’ll see how it shapes up for them, but so far so good.