What is gentrification

• A very questionable process

• that allows urban developers to take low income / inner city neighborhoods and convert them into upscale communities

• These neighborhoods are developed with

condominiums, lofts and other upscale renovated homes for wealthier tenants

Gentrification History

• Gentrification is not new and can be dated back in USA to the 1950 as city planners and developers created ways to eliminate urban decay.

• Politician along with landlords with Government funding for urban renewal financed the gentrification of poor neighborhoods. (SW/ DC and Haight-Ashbury San Francisco)

Who Benefits ?

• In most case gentrification benefits developers and landlords and leave original residents trapped because they can’t afford to leave the area and can’t afford the increase rent.

• This can lead to frustration and confrontation between the original residents and the new affluent residents.

The original residents

• Usually can’t afford to pay the higher rent or qualify for mortgages so they are forced into lower income areas with higher crime rates.

• Businesses that originally serviced these residents may have to close or sell to investors to make room for more upscale cafes, bistros, boutiques and other businesses.

On the backs of the disenfranchised.

• For some businesses and from some individuals perspectives gentrification creates better neighborhoods, and results in higher taxes for cities.

• Cities can then create more and better services for its new residents at the expense of displacement of the original inhabitants.

Chester HartmanAn Urban Planner and Author

• Says the concept of “right to displace” suggest that residential owners can drive out nonowners. Those who are displaced are disproportionately nonwhite, elderly, poor and from large households.

• Hartman suggest the Displaced are forced into a biased housing market, where they are often forced to settle for more expensive and less adequate space.

• Hartman argues that this should be met with a “right to stay put,” and that measures protecting marginal groups from gentrification should be put into place.

http://geography.about.com/od/urbaneconomicgeography/a/gentrification.htm

The advocate of Gentrification

• Most who advocate for the good of gentrification suggest that “Sometimes the solution is to help current low-income residents find suitable and affordable housing elsewhere before allowing gentrification efforts to completely overtake the affected area”. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-gentrification.htm)

• This suggests that residence should be displaced before gentrification begins?

The moral obligation

• The main argument against gentrification is the moral issue. The obligation to stop negative effects gentrification has on communities/population.

• remedies: Inclusionary zoning- ordinances requiring the building of new housing for the original low and moderate-income residence intermixed with upscale housing.

Center of Disease Control

• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a webpage discussing the adverse effects gentrification has on health. It provides a list of policies that would inhibit gentrification in order to prevent these impacts. http://www.cdc.gov/HEALTHYPLACES/healthtopics/gentrification.htm.

• Let us defer to solutions ,remedies and alternatives suggested by the CDC.