Uneasy welcome as ultra-Orthodox Jews extend beyond New York

Jersey City

TO the gentrifying stew of bankers, artists and college graduates who are transforming this once blue-collar city across the Hudson River from Manhattan, add an unexpected flavour.

In a heavily African-American neighbourhood, 62 families from a number of Hasidic sects based in Brooklyn and rarely seen here have bought a scattering of faded but roomy wood-frame row houses whose prices are less than half what homes of similar size would cost in New York - roughly US$300,000 compared with US$800,000.

These families are pioneers in a demographic and religious shift that is reshaping communities throughout the region. Skyrocketing real estate prices in Brooklyn and Queens are forcing out young ultra-Orthodox families, which are establishing outposts i…