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Gentrification and its negative impacts
Gentrification and its negative impacts
Gentrification and its negative impacts
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There are many issues in the modern day that affect high income and low-income residents. Most recently, gentrification has been a huge issue for minorities. Gentrification is the process of renovating and improving a district so that it fits into the middle-class level. Minorities are people that are a lesser part of society. This means they have little power due to their ethnic, racial, religious and cultural differences. Minorities are often distinct in the presence. Specifically, in Oakland, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, children of culture/color and low-income families etc. are the minority. Minorities are extremely affected by housing, gentrification and district changes. Gentrification causes an immense amount of fear for minorities because …show more content…
These minorities often come with families, creating a minority family. This then creates room for prosperous and wealthy families to move into the newly gentrified areas. In other words, the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer. Many also believe that “gentrification is contributing to income disparity” (Greenblatt 1). Since gentrification is creating income differences and changes, it's getting harder for low-income families to adjust to life when changes come so quickly. Although gentrification effects low-income families negatively, there is also some positive effects on the neighborhood and community itself. These effects help a community stay clean, organized and safe.“Neighborhoods once struggling or tagged as derelict have become prime real estate for young professionals and empty nesters, older couples whose children are grown up and not living at home” (Greenblatt). The question is, are these changes and sacrifices worth it in the end? With gentrification, both low income and mid/high-income families are …show more content…
Not only does this positive change help a community and city get a fresh start to a wealthier life, but there are also new programs and initiatives that come with the gentrification of a community. Greenblatt also explains how the positives of gentrification turn into negatives along the way. He comments that since so many new wealthy foreigners and young professionals are moving to these urban cities, they are making a positive change, but overtime real estate values will begin to rise to an unimaginable amount. “ The newcomers also are causing real estate values too sore, spoken concerned that people with fewer means are being forced to move to lower cost suburbs, where jobs and social services are scarcer and commutes longer” (Greenblatt 2). Those who cannot afford to live are being forced out of their own home and community. Minorities have two options, both out of their hands, either move into an affordable house or end up on the streets. Neither one of these options suit minorities and their lifestyles. Since there is a huge sacrifice to pay with gentrification, one can only hope that the sacrifice was worth it. Greenblatt uses different gentrification success stories to explain how gentrification can help the community grow and reshape a neighborhood that was once labeled dangerous into a community where everyone wishes to
The loss of public housing and the expanse of the wealth gap throughout the state of Rhode Island has been a rising issue between the critics and supporters of gentrification, in both urban areas such as Providence and wealthy areas such as the island of Newport, among other examples. With the cities under a monopoly headed by the wealth of each neighborhood, one is left to wonder how such a system is fair to all groups. Relatively speaking, it isn’t, and the only ones who benefit from such a system are white-skinned. With the deterioration of the economic status of Rhode Island, and especially in the city of Providence, more and more educated Caucasians are leaving to seek a more fertile economic environment.
Gentrification makes way for safe neighborhoods that were once considered to be unsafe because of crime. Areas such as Echo Park, East LA, and Bed-Stuy, once notorious for being some of the most dangerous places in the United States are now safer than ever because of the changes brought by gentrification. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “…gentrification can cause an initial increase in crime because neighborhood change causes destabilization, although in the long run gentrification leads to a decline in crime as neighborhood cohesion increases.” (2016, HUD USER). The arrival of new members of the community and the changes they bring creates unrest in the form of crime.
“The Deeper Problems We Miss When We Attack ‘Gentrification’”exhibit their opinion on the positives of gentrification and the potential of “revitalization” in low-income urban communities. Badger argues that gentrification brings nothing more than further opportunities for urban communities while integrating citizens of different social classes.Furthermore , she continues to question if gentrification is in fact the monster that brings the prior expressions against gentrification where she says “If poor neighborhoods have historically suffered from dire disinvestment, how can the remedy to that evil — outside money finally flowing in — be the problem, too?”(Badger) Stating that the funds generated from sources external that are brought into these communities can’t be problematic. This concept is further elaborated in the article “Does Gentrification Harm the Poor” where Vigdoor list the potential positive enhancements gentrification can have on an urban area in America ,stating that gentrification can
Inner City Communities are often areas which are both densely populated and deteriorating(quote). The areas and its residents have strongly been correlated with social and economical disparity. Residents of inner city communities have been plagued with problems including: “high unemployment, poor health care, inadequate educational opportunities, dilapidated housing, high infant mortality, and extreme poverty” (Attitudes and Perceptions, n.d). Though the inner city communities have been stricken with
"Building Partnerships to Revitalize America's Neighborhoods." HBCU Central (Winter 2002): 1-6. Winter 2002. Web. 2 May 2012.
The downgrading of African Americans to certain neighborhoods continues today. The phrase of a not interested neighborhood followed by a shift in the urban community and disturbance of the minority has made it hard for African Americans to launch themselves, have fairness, and try to break out into a housing neighborhood. If they have a reason to relocate, Caucasians who support open housing laws, but become uncomfortable and relocate if they are contact with a rise of the African American population in their own neighborhood most likely, settle the neighborhoods they have transfer. This motion creates a tremendously increase of an African American neighborhood, and then shift in the urban community begins an alternative. All of these slight prejudiced procedures leave a metropolitan African American population with few options. It forces them to remain in non-advanced neighborhoods with rising crime, gang activity, and...
Michelle Boyd’s article “Defensive Development The Role of Racial Conflict in Gentrification” also focuses on gentrification addressing the failure to explain the relationship between racial conflict and its effect on gentrification. This article adds a new perspective to gentrification while studying the blacks as gentrifiers.
Gentrification is described as the renovation of certain neighborhoods in order to accommodate to young workers and the middle-class. For an area to be considered gentrified, a neighborhood must meet a certain median home value and hold a percentage of adults earning Bachelor’s degree. Philadelphia’s gentrification rate is among the top in the nation; different neighborhoods have pushed for gentrification and have seen immense changes as a result. However, deciding on whether or not gentrification is a beneficial process can become complicated. Various groups of people believe that cities should implementing policy on advancing gentrification, and others believe that this process shouldn’t executed. Both sides are impacted by the decision to progress gentrification; it is unclear of the true implications of completely renovating impoverished urban areas; gentrification surely doesn’t solve all of a community’s issues. I personally believe that gentrification is not necessarily a good or bad process; gentrification should occur as a natural progression of innovative economies and novel lifestyles collide within certain areas. Policy involving gentrification should not support the removal of people out of their neighborhood for the sake of advancement.
Too often, the knee-jerk response is to fight development in these gentrifying neighborhoods. The consequences of this are two-fold. First, economics 101 tells us that capping supply will only cause prices to rise. Instead of newcomers filling newly-constructed units, they will quickly flood the existing stock of housing, quickening gentrification. Second, thwarting development shuts the release valve that alleviates housing price pressures that caused gentrification in the first place. Since not building is not an option, politicians would prefer to funnel new construction into disadvantaged neighborhoods instead of letting it happen where there is market demand. Development suppressed, gentrification swiftly captures the neighborhood and
...r of inequality in America, with so much poverty located within such a close proximity to the White House. That being said, gentrification efforts in DC appear to be focused on removing poor people, or at the very least, the visual image of crime, poverty, and corruption as it relates to the most powerful city in the country. Community activist groups have tried time and time again to stop gentrification from affecting their community, but often times, to no avail. What is truly sad is that while this cycle is continually perpetuated as a matter of “haves versus have nots” the way in which this system seems to always disproportionately marginalize one race of people in favor of another, does raise the question as to whether or not gentrification was orchestrated to operate in such a manner; and if so, what are the affected groups going to do about it.
Lance Freeman tackles the issue of gentrification from the perspectives of residents in the gentrified neighborhood. He criticizes the literature for overlooking the experiences of the victims of gentrification. The author argues that people’s conceptions on the issue are somewhat misinformed in that most people consider it as completely deplorable, whereas in reality, it benefits the community by promoting businesses, different types of stores, and cleaner streets. These benefits are even acknowledged by many residents in the gentrified neighborhood. However, the author admits that gentrification indeed does harm. Although gentrification does not equate to displacement per se, it serves to benefit primarily homeowners and harm the poor. Additionally,
Gentrification is designed to improve the quality of life for the residents, but the fact is that it pushes out old residents to welcome in young and wealthy citizens. To analyze the demographic even further, gentrified neighborhoods in New York City have seen an increase in white population despite a city wide decrease. As Kate Abbey-Lamertz of the Huffington Post states, “The report notes that change is driven by educated people moving in, rather than by existing residents becoming more educated.” These changes are being driven by a millennial demographic who can afford the changed aesthetic. The influx of millennials are pushing out families whose lifestyle can’t keep up with the changing demographic. Even though these changes have been occurring for almost thirty years, and the city hasn’t made the changes needed for people who need low income housing. New York City’s gentrification must be slowed in order for people in low income housing to catch
Gentrification can be defined as the cultural, economic, social, and physical occurrence in which middle to upper class citizens essentially moves into a declining neighborhood/area, at the cost of replacing and/or displacing the original residents. It has been a controversial topic for quite some time now, and the debate for it only continues to grow. On one side, there are those who say the process is a beneficial one, describing it as something that makes cities safer, nicer to live in, and economic value. This is understandable, since an area that goes through gentrification is “renewed” in a sense. However, this is a very superficial way of thinking. While gentrification may have its benefits, I believe this system of renovation is largely
If it is simply left up to the free market, it is more likely that rich people and business will push out the poor and the smaller businesses. The way income and wealth is largely distributed within America means that most of the rich and corporations moving in are Caucasian and those being displaced are minorities and people of color. It is a product of predatory capitalism that is able to reign due to the lack of proper restrictions and checks and balances on behalf of the government. The strange anxiety that any rules or regulations would stymie the development of these various cities and neighborhoods continues to be a convenient and false defense against gentrification criticism.
Especially if my parents were to relocate to a low-income neighborhood, I would not have been the same independent, intelligent black young women I am now. I grew up in a middle-income neighborhood in a nice condominium. We had great neighbors that helped one another other out through any situation. According to Vox, they stated "Neighborhood plays a huge role in social mobility, they find — around half the size of the role that parental income itself plays. Moving a child from a neighborhood in the bottom 25 percent of the income distribution to the top 25 percent, they found, yields hundreds of thousands of dollars in lifetime earnings. The statistics rate goes to show that neighborhoods do have an impact on the individual whether you are a child, teenager or adult and it does affect how the individuals will intake in the neighborhood