Alternative Solution To Gentrification

There has been a recent phenomenon throughout the United States of gentrification. As older parts of neighborhoods are occupied by new tenants with money, the neighborhood changes and loses its old character. Those who might have lived in those neighborhoods their entire lives are pushed out as rents begin to skyrocket and the surroundings begin to change. This has happened in many neighborhoods. One of the most well known is San Francisco, where technology companies have brought in new software engineers that have caused local rents to skyrocket and people to move out of the area. However, just as importantly has been the influx of new money to Brooklyn, where local neighborhood changes have forced people from their homes, traditional music to be replaced, and old businesses to go bankrupt.

“Words are not passive; indeed, they help to share and create our perceptions of the world around us. The terms we choose to label or describe events must, therefore, convey appropriate connotations or images of the phenomenon under consideration in order to avoid serious misunderstandings. The existence of different terms to describe gentrification is not an accident, neither is the plethora of definitions for it” (Palen & London, 1984, p. 6). SAY SOMETHING Peter Marcuse (1999) argues that, “how gentrification is evaluated depends a great deal on how it is defined” (p. 789). Defining gentrification properly is necessary for anchoring an analysis of neighborhood change, particularly in light of recent scholarly efforts to replace the term (to describe the process) with less critical names like: ‘urban renaissance’,

In the constantly changing economy of cities, the growth of city housing is oftentimes neglected. In “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by Gentrification” Timothy Williams recounts how gentrification has evolved over the years. Mentioning how cities have changed in order to appease the younger professionals, Williams shows how the city itself is in jeopardy due to the tax increases. Slowly loosing their faithful residents as well as historic culture cities face a big deal. Williams gives quotes from faithful residents, “…long time homeowners are victims of the success story”, (Williams 346). In “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by Gentrification”, Williams uses his credible quotes and modern statistics to generate the reader’s emotions, with desire to change how city officials go about gentrification in culturally infused cities.

Many opponents to gentrification argue that it will cause property taxes to go up and cause many families to struggle. Rising property taxes could occur, and may result in more struggles in the lower class and families that are already struggling, but these struggles are still just something that may happen but is not a guaranteed repercussion. There are many families that are trying to stay afloat and are barely doing so. Living paycheck to paycheck, a tax increase can be detrimental for some families. It will help improve communities and promote new businesses. Author of “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by

The purpose of gentrification is to take struggling neighborhoods and stabilize them by investing in the neighborhood. Gentrification is “the rehabilitation and settlement of decaying urban areas by middle- and high-income investors.” (The Columbia Encyclopedia). These investors raise the value of the neighborhood by improving facilities and making the neighborhood look better. This doesn’t always benefit everyone since some citizens get displaced. However, the number of people displaced is very minor in

During the past few years, gentrification has been on an uprise.“Nearly 20 percent of neighborhoods with lower incomes and home values have experienced gentrification since 2000, compared to only 9 percent during the 1990s.” Gentrification is happening in areas that supposedly need a change, such as the low-income neighborhoods in New York City, Minneapolis, Seattle and Washington, D.C.Factors such as uniqueness, accessibility, the energy of the neighborhood and reasonably priced homes attract gentrifiers. It has altered many cities in the country. Gentrification can be defined as the procedure of reestablishment and remaking due to the flood of prosperous individuals into falling apart and low-income areas that frequently displaces poorer

The process through which gentrification is carried out is very intricately planned. Drugs, prostitution, and violence usually play the most important role in the process of gentrification. When neighborhoods are infested by crime of any sort, the first thing that happens is the immediate decline in property value in areas like Guilford and Park Heights (“The Mortgage Bubble Invades Baltimore”). The home owning taxpayers in Baltimore City are usually blue collar workers who are just trying to make ends meet, and because of their income restrictions many of these citizens are forced to live in areas of high crime. Generally people only live in these areas if they have to, so when a developer comes along and offers to buy citizens homes at a price that the citizens at the time considers to be extremely profitable in their neighborhood, they usually take the money and run without carefully considering that the offer that they have accepted is much less profitable than what the developers have planned (“City’s East side Renaissance Spreads”). We

Gentrification is a problem that is plaguing cities all over the United States. Within the past decade, there has been an influx of people moving to Washington D.C., causing gentrification to become a prominent issue in the nation’s capital. People who have lived in certain parts of the city for generations are now being pushed out because of “escalating rents and real estate taxes associated with rising property values” (Duggan). And while it may be a positive thing that some areas of the city are experiencing revitalization, it’s a problem that the people who have been there are unable to experience it. Furthermore, there are certain areas of the city such as Anacostia, where poverty remains prominent. Gentrification is an issue in Washington D.C. that doesn’t seem like it is going to go away any time soon.

Gentrification is a major reason for the increase in rent prices throughout New York City. Harlem rent prices have gone up over the past years because of new condominiums and businesses that are being built in neighborhoods. The displacement of residents leads to an increase of people becoming homeless in the city. According to the author, Ivan Pereira, “Harlem saw a 9.4 % average rent price increase during that same period from $2,191 last year to $ 2,397 in January” (Pereira 1). The change causes longtime residents to move out because of a variety of factors including unaffordability, pressure from property owners, diminishing or lack of stores that cater to them and many more. The more condominiums and business’s being built makes living

Urbanization is inevitable, whether we want it or not. Opposers are constantly bickering about the political and moral consequences of gentrification. This topic is indeed mind boggling and complex. However, there is a need to observe this multi-faceted phenomenon in a different angle. Change is the force of diversity, safety and

In addition, gentrification has several ways of being creeping into our neighborhood but at the end the outcomes have been quite similar. Our society has always viewed neighborhoods were minorities live in as being the ghettos, slums, or ‘hoods of America. When many of us come across an urbanized area we generally assume violence, drug trafficking, and overall social pathologies strive these places. Once we hear these “ghetto’s” are under going gentrification, we have a sense of relief and we feel there is hope for these communities. Gentrification may seem a blessing to an urban community by many, but if it were to be closely examine it we would find out it isn’t. Although the process has solved many economic issues within cities by providing employment opportunities, increases in property tax revenues and has diminished violence, the aftermath is far worse. (Freeman) Gentrification has increased the

Besides developers, the government also plays an important role in gentrification. For instance, HOPE VI program given by government also contribute to the gentrification. This HOPE VI has included a variety of grant programs including: Revitalization, Demolition, Main Street, and Planning grant programs. Those grant programs in HOPE VI is indirectly contributed to gentrification. Some critics said that government use the program as a legal means to evict poor residents in favor of more affluent residents in a process of gentrification. In fact, there are many reasons for government to support gentrification. First, government supports gentrification because it can lead to increase the government's revenue. For instance, since whites constantly

Viewing the complex matter of gentrification succinctly, it helps to uncover how multifaceted it is; in that gentrification involves the oppression, marginalization, displacement of vulnerable populations, particularly, the poor, and the black who are often already negatively impacted by the effects of classism, and racism. Gentrification threatens to erode the communities and livelihood maintained by these set of people because their displacement becomes a precondition for the total transformation of the area.

Gentrification has been a controversial issue both in urban planning and politics primarily due to the displacement of poor people by the rich folks (Shaw & Hagemans, 2015). Many individuals have viewed gentrification as an illegal act that should be avoided at all costs. On the other hand, another group of people believe that gentrification is the way forward to promoting growth and development. With such contrasting ideas, this paper is going to take a look at gentrification from a positive and negative perspective, its effects, and how it can be prevented or contained. Apart from this, the paper will also address the following questions.

In today’s society, it may seem that gentrification can eliminate poverty and increase neighborhood opportunities. Low-income residents and property owners will be the first to be altered by gentrification. In an email to the editor at the Atlantic, Freeman, the director of the Urban Planning program at Columbia states “ Gentrification brings new amenities and services that benefit not only the newcomers but long term residents too. Full service