The pressures of rising housing costs are already being felt by many people in Newark. Between 2000 and 2015, median rents in the city rose 20 percent even as median household income fell by 10 percent, according to a 2016 study by Rutgers Law School.

“The risk of displacement — even in the absence of traditional gentrification — is real for most Newarkers,” the report said.

Since Mr. Baraka took office in 2014 he has won the support of affordable housing activists by adopting policies like inclusionary zoning, which requires developers to offer 20 percent of residential units below market rate in new buildings with more than 30 units ,

Developers can also receive tax abatements for hiring minority and female contractors as co-developers on projects to build affordable housing.

And Newark recently became the third city in the country behind New York and Los Angeles to start providing free legal representation in court to low-income residents facing eviction.

“Anybody that comes to the city now is going to come with a mind-set of collaboration,’’ Mr. Baraka said. “I don’t care who they are. They’re going to come and sit with everybody at the table.”

Despite these measures, activists wonder how well the city will be able to resist market forces.

“They’re walking this tight rope of trying to entice developers to come and build in the city,’’ Mr. Hamm said, “while at the same time trying not to hurt the very people who voted them into office. That’s a tough tightrope to walk.”