What are the problems gentrification brings? Isn’t fixing up a neighborhood a good thing? How can gentrification stop?
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Gentrification does bring some benefits as neighborhoods become fixed up, such as higher property tax base, lower crime. But it is a mixed bag…
Gentrification can destroy communities. Even if the area was run-down, crime-ridden, etc. it was still people’s home/community. As rents increase, as property values go up and property taxes increase, existing residents can no longer afford to stay. They’re forced from their community and people fragment, scattering families and friends, forcing kids to new schools, and such. And gentrification also often forces small businesses focused on that community out of business, as demographics change, rents increase. The laundromat that was a social hub closes as rent increases and demand drops when new homes/apartments have in-unit W/D. The ethnic grocery sees customer demand drop and has trouble carrying items without them expiring on the shelves and has to choose whether to change their product mix or go out of business. Ethnic restaurants are replaced with hipster spots, and eventually chains like Starbucks and Chipotle.
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