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Well, gentrification does ruin communities, and displaces the people who may have lived there generations, just pushing them somewhere else.
But it does leave in its wake, expensive houses, coffee shops, fancy restaurants, etc.
So who benefits from gentrification? Mostly real-estate investors, and government tax revenues.
And people who want safer neighborhoods.
And people who greater economic opportunity on their doorstep.
And people who want better schools for their children.
And people who want greater community involvement.
And people who want more resources to improve their communities.
And people who want to see their property values improve.
Funny thing is, a lot of those people are the ones who already live there. Stereotype much?
The entire argument against gentrification is dumb, for it assumes that property values are unchanging. It also assumes that the entire population of a neighborhood will be evicted the minute someone opens a cute little coffee shop on the corner when, in truth, the changes take place incrementally over years. The critics will sit around and rail at the lack of economic opportunity, at high crime, at food deserts, and a host of other problems, but then don't like it when new people moving in create businesses and accompanying jobs, are more vigilant about crime...you name it.
My wife and I moved into a neighborhood that was down on its luck 25 years ago. We took a chance because, frankly, that was all the house we could afford. Our house was only one of three on our block that wasn't a rental. So we started fixing our house up with little more than elbow grease and hard work. The business district a block away was completely shuttered with the exception of one gas station on the corner.
25 years later, the neighborhood is a model of redevelopment. There are restaurants and a host of other businesses--businesses that employ local folks. The public park has gone from vandalized eyesore to a beautiful place where people of all backgrounds can come and hang out. The little league team once cobbled together and never competitive, now routinely goes to tournaments and wins.
Yet, at the same time, even with new residents and some neighborhoods being higher priced, there are plenty of apartments and homes that remain affordable. But it is a heck of a lot safer and an overall better place to live than when we found it.
And people who appreciate living in safe, crime- free neighborhoods.
The gentrified neighborhoods become safer by pushing out the poor people who had lived there. But where do they go? And what happens to those neighborhoods?
Gentrification just replaces one population with another by making it unaffordable for poor people to live there. The poor people just go somewhere else. Nothing is actually solved.
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Originally Posted by shiftymh
The places that are being gentrified are places where whites were once displaced.
I agree. The white people left as the minorities came in because of the crime they brought with them.
The gentrified neighborhoods become safer by pushing out the poor people who had lived there. But where do they go? And what happens to those neighborhoods?
Gentrification just replaces one population with another by making it unaffordable for poor people to live there. The poor people just go somewhere else. Nothing is actually solved.
Not entirely true. Many poor people own homes in those neighborhoods and they cashed out handsomely. SF documented one family where roughly 15 people of an extended family lived in a small duplex. They bought it for dirt cheap when the neighborhood was bad, sold it many years later for an amount they could never have dreamt of. Split the profit and they bought three different houses in the suburbs with better schools.
Were they sad to leave behind a neighborhood they grown to like? Yes. But did they profited nicely? Yes! That's one of the ways that CA offers upward mobility to the poor - through sheer appreciation of housing.
Not entirely true. Many poor people own homes in those neighborhoods and they cashed out handsomely. SF documented one family where roughly 15 people of an extended family lived in a small duplex. They bought it for dirt cheap when the neighborhood was bad, sold it many years later for an amount they could never have dreamt of. Split the profit and they bought three different houses in the suburbs with better schools.
Were they sad to leave behind a neighborhood they grown to like? Yes. But did they profited nicely? Yes! That's one of the ways that CA offers upward mobility to the poor - through sheer appreciation of housing.
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The vast-majority of poor people are renters, who get absolutely nothing from higher housing prices, except higher rents.
But the point is, gentrification doesn't stop crime, it just moves it somewhere else. There is nothing magical about it. It doesn't fix anything.
The places that are being gentrified are places where whites were once displaced.
Displaced? You mean they left once a few black people moved in. White flight, not displacement. And if you want to say "displacement", it had more to do with making sure all the blacks are put in one spot in a city for discrimination purposes.
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