Gentrification, like most social change, is a mixed bag that hurts in some ways, but I think it's more good than bad.
I lived in Philadelphia the last few years and it's gentrifying out from the center. People who worry about gentrification are usually white middle class people seeing poor and racial minorities priced out of a location, but they fail to see what the larger implications of pricing out are. Yes, poor people sometimes are forced to move, but rarely is a poor person's goal to stay in one place. More often their goal is to not be poor and gentrification frequently drags the poor into the lower middle class. I'll give three examples:
1. A friend of mine's father lived in rent-controlled housing just south of center city since the 80s. The area exploded in value in the last decade and he was making less than $15K/year as the area gentrified around him. Last year he was paying $500/mo rent while his neighbors were paying $1400/mo rent. His landlord, unable to evict him or raise rent, offered him $14K--almost a full years salary--to move out. My friend's father was "displaced" but used the money to make a down payment on a $70k house in far south Philly. And if this seems unfair to the apartment owner, keep in mind that he will make that he probably easily made that money back in the last year with raised rent. Everybody won here.
2. Another friend of mine, without graduating high school, lied about her age and got a job at a local bank and at age 19, bought a 3 bedroom house in Northern liberties, getting a good mortgage from her employer and paying it partly by renting out bedrooms. In 2013 her property taxes more than doubled and she was forced to sell the house. But the house she bought for $80k sold for $375k--and at this point she owned most of the house. She complains about the tax increase to this day, but lives in SF now with her husband, a software company research programmer, well established in the upper middle class. They're buying a house in SF as soon as possible, using the money from her Philly house to make a down payment and his income to pay the mortgage. I can't muster much sympathy for her.
3. In Philly I lived in an Ethiopian/Egyptian neighborhood. I worked at a food cooperative on food justice initiatives. However, a few businesses had predated the coop in bringing healthy food to the low-income neighborhoods. As the neighborhoods gentrified these businesses were no longer bringing nutrition to the poor, but they all were making a lot more money; enough to expand and open new locations further out where there's still low-income neighborhoods. The high income stores and restaurants fund the low income ones, while the low income locations achieve their mission. And the low income locations are good investments because it won't be long before gentrification reaches there too.
Now I realize that these are anecdotal stories and many poor people are not as well-positioned to benefit from gentrification. But this should at least establish that simply looking at housing price displacement doesn't tell the whole story.
I lived in Philadelphia the last few years and it's gentrifying out from the center. People who worry about gentrification are usually white middle class people seeing poor and racial minorities priced out of a location, but they fail to see what the larger implications of pricing out are. Yes, poor people sometimes are forced to move, but rarely is a poor person's goal to stay in one place. More often their goal is to not be poor and gentrification frequently drags the poor into the lower middle class. I'll give three examples:
1. A friend of mine's father lived in rent-controlled housing just south of center city since the 80s. The area exploded in value in the last decade and he was making less than $15K/year as the area gentrified around him. Last year he was paying $500/mo rent while his neighbors were paying $1400/mo rent. His landlord, unable to evict him or raise rent, offered him $14K--almost a full years salary--to move out. My friend's father was "displaced" but used the money to make a down payment on a $70k house in far south Philly. And if this seems unfair to the apartment owner, keep in mind that he will make that he probably easily made that money back in the last year with raised rent. Everybody won here.
2. Another friend of mine, without graduating high school, lied about her age and got a job at a local bank and at age 19, bought a 3 bedroom house in Northern liberties, getting a good mortgage from her employer and paying it partly by renting out bedrooms. In 2013 her property taxes more than doubled and she was forced to sell the house. But the house she bought for $80k sold for $375k--and at this point she owned most of the house. She complains about the tax increase to this day, but lives in SF now with her husband, a software company research programmer, well established in the upper middle class. They're buying a house in SF as soon as possible, using the money from her Philly house to make a down payment and his income to pay the mortgage. I can't muster much sympathy for her.
3. In Philly I lived in an Ethiopian/Egyptian neighborhood. I worked at a food cooperative on food justice initiatives. However, a few businesses had predated the coop in bringing healthy food to the low-income neighborhoods. As the neighborhoods gentrified these businesses were no longer bringing nutrition to the poor, but they all were making a lot more money; enough to expand and open new locations further out where there's still low-income neighborhoods. The high income stores and restaurants fund the low income ones, while the low income locations achieve their mission. And the low income locations are good investments because it won't be long before gentrification reaches there too.
Now I realize that these are anecdotal stories and many poor people are not as well-positioned to benefit from gentrification. But this should at least establish that simply looking at housing price displacement doesn't tell the whole story.