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I don't know Barry Farms and Stanton Road, but I agree that Anacostia still has more than its share of problems. A lot of these have to with the overconcentration of housing projects, which retard what would otherwise be the normal recirculation of older neighborhoods. That said, the areas around Hillcrest, off Alabama and Branch Avenues and in downtown Old Town are dramatically better than they were. Anacostia will gentrify because it is so close in. Capitol Hill, right across the river, has become an expensive neighborhood. Rosedale, Ivy City, Trinidad, and Langdon are gentrifying. Even Carver-Langston, Brentwood and Eckington, if you want some "knock me over with a feather" examples. Gentrified Brookland is expanding south as Capitol Hill is pushing out in all directions.

I'm not saying that these neighborhoods are now good, just that they are vastly better than they used to be and are improving rapidly. The whole Anacostia River corridor is going to be open, accessible, walkable, bikeable, and full of parks and playgrounds. Residential Anacostia will be dragged along for the ride. Capitol Hill pressure will jump the river. The National Harbor hub is growing. DHS has created a major presence on the old St. E's campus. The bad areas of Anacostia will steadily shrink as the reclaimed areas spread and link up. This is going to be a hot real estate area over the next 20 years.

I don't know where the displaced underclass is going. Baltimore, I suppose, where they will fit right in.