Gentrification In The City

In recent years Portland, Oregon has become one of the country’s most popular cities to live in. The influx of technology, creative marketing industries and environmental consciousness have all lead to the desirability of the area. Although the number of pull factors drawing people to Portland is high, Portland’s racial reputation is the main cause of gentrification in this area. Portland is becoming one of the United State’s worst example of displacement of Black residents, and the fastest gentrifying city. (Savitch-Lew, 2016) “Portland has experienced gentrification in more neighborhoods than any other of the nation’s fifty largest cities since 2000.” (Law, 2015) Portland neighborhoods are being hit hard by this. The popularity of the city

(Grant, 2003) Some drawbacks of gentrification include an increase in the average income of the individual that lives in the area, the areas become less diverse, there are rent increases, and increases the amount of evictions that take place. Gentrification typically will cause the average income of the area to increase. The areas become less diverse as the racial minorities are being forced out. Home prices increase, rent spikes and evictions increase. “Since 2010, rents have increased an average of 20 percent, the sixth-fastest rise in the nation after cities like New York and San Jose.” (Savitch-Lew, 2016) Because there are not any state laws in effect to limit rent increases, like there are in other cities, Portland residents suffer. People who experience gentrification feel hopeless, out of options and unwanted. Many of the neighborhoods in these areas used to be very close knit. That sense of closeness within these neighborhoods no longer exists. It’s difficult for people who were used to that close-knit vibe, to be uprooted; not only by having to move, but changing the way they