So you want to make the neighborhood better, huh?

[David Sosna]

A big dilemma we are dealing with it gentrification and what it means to us. We want to invest in our own neighborhood for many reasons. We want to be close to our houses. We love it here. We love the mix of middle class and lower income people, ethnic families, etc. That brings us to our gentrification dilemma. When we talk about buying a house and flipping it, or even just fixing it up a bit and renting it out for what seems reasonable for our business, we feel like we are pricing out the very people that give this neighborhood flavor and character. If we just buy 150-200k houses and turn them into 350-400k houses like so many others are doing around here then we'll just turn this neighborhood into something more financially valuable but culturally vacant. Are we just sappy do-gooders? Is there no money to be made for people like us who still want to provide decent living spaces for lower income people so they aren't priced out of the neighborhood? Do we just need to start some nonprofit because we are being unrealistic thinking there is a business model that fits our values? Is anyone else dealing with thinking this through or has done so?

[Peter Dunne]

This is a question I think about almost every day and discuss with other community leaders. I live in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, working as a Realtor, and preparing for my own rehab/development projects. This neighborhood has some of the richest history in the US (Buildings from the 1700's around the corner from me). It also has a long history of demographic shifts including white flight out. It is a robust community, but also one with collective trauma from disinvestment, poor schools, lack of commercial options. Much of this is changing rapidly (wholesaler postcards are flying around. Many of the long-time residents have struggled to build wealth due to all of the expected injustices that come with urban poverty, so they are not in a position to take advantage of rising property values. Leaders in the community have come up with some pretty cool initiatives to solve this (See Jumpstart Germantown), but most feel like they are being left behind as young, white hipsters move into the amazing old houses. As a Realtor, I am hesitant to work with out of state investors who simply see the potential, but couldn't possibly know about the community dynamics. It's been eye-opening to see the reality that those with wealth and privilege get to remake communities in their own image, and the poor largely have to move on to another less-desirable place to live, even if they spent their entire lives in the neighborhood. Mortgage redlining played a huge role in this by essentially forcing residents to rent because banks wouldn't underwrite loans for their homes.

I'm working with a few other neighborhood leaders to put together a development company that only employs contractors from the neighborhood, creates job training opportunities, and works to help neighbors stay in their homes. While investment can be positive in general economic terms, it can also be destructive to community identities. I'd love to connect with others who are trying to figure out how to invest and develop with community development as a high priority.