Perspective: Yes, you can gentrify a neighborhood without pushing out poor people
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser stands with D.C. Council member Brandon T. Todd on 14th Street NW in May. By Jesse Van Tol April 8 at 3:35 PM Neighborhoods have been developing and changing since the dawn of civilization, but the idea of gentrification — when an influx of new money and new people transforms a community — has emerged as an issue since only the 1960s. And it is a complicated and often misunderstood term.
It turns out both views are correct. Gentrification does not have to mean displacement — if the circumstances are aligned correctly. That suggests that investment and revitalization of poor neighborhoods doesn’t have to push out the people who lived there before. It does, sometimes. But why not always?The notion that gentrification doesn’t always result in displacement may seem antithetical to some, because the term is often used as a synonym for displacement. In fact, if a neighborhood keeps the same number of housing units but has an influx of new residents, then displacement inevitably will occur.
On the other hand, in lower-income neighborhoods where a significant percentage of residents own their homes, gentrification can be a life-changing event for some families, leading to the kind of wealth-building that can dramatically improve their economic mobility. There are other ways to help people stay rooted in their communities: provide renters with the opportunity and financing to purchase their units; preserve and expand public housing; protect elderly and long-term residents from property tax increases; enforce building codes and offer easy options for renters to report bad landlords; negotiate payment plans with homeowners who have fallen behind on their property taxes; establish community benefits agreements with investors in large projects to...
This suggests another stark and difficult policy challenge. Not only is the nation’s population increasingly concentrated in urban areas — but investment capital and growth are even more concentrated.
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