I believe there are 2 sides of this and both are right. What I have experienced is gentrification is an overall good thing for a neighborhood. Who wants old, dilapidated buildings around? What crowd does that attract? No business wants to be in that area. But as the area gentrifies, more business is attracted to the area. More businesses to the area equals more income for the county in taxes. Cost of living rises but also taxes which means the county can allot more social services for the area, if they are hopefully competent. More mental health services and school services. Which by the way seem to be the first programs to be stripped to bare bones when the county has less money. When the schools have more funding and programs, people want their kids to go to said school. Kids go to school with great teachers and programs, can flourish in whatever they have an interest in and become productive adults. Mental health services help vulnerable adults with stability-Meds, counseling, even places to live.
My point is that you can’t have good support and a safe community with no money coming into the county, which is greatly helped by businesses in the area. Which is why Whole Foods coming in to a community would be a good thing, along with the jobs and healthier food they have for the community as well as local taxes they pay.
But if gentrification happens too quickly, prices go up too fast and while that’s good for investors, it’s hard for the more vulnerable populations in the community. For example, I knew an older lady in her 70s who lived in a small apartment complex for the last 25 yrs that got a 60 day notice since the apartment complex was sold to an investor who was going to completely remodel it. Even though she got 60 days notice, she still couldn’t find an apartment in the area that was first floor and wheelchair accessible. She was put on a wait list that was approx 4 months long for an opening and in the meantime, she was living on couches and sometimes in her old car before she got into a different place. Her health suffered terribly while she was waiting for another place to open up because even the local homeless shelters were not set up well for disabled people. It’s a hard life to be poor. She lived only on SSD. Seems that problems just compounds on problems, mostly due to poor planning. I believe this is more a government problem, as they need to provide better programs or more incentives for non profits and investors to help seniors and disabled (mentally or physically) with housing.
Another perspective. About 5 or 6 years ago, the large apartment complex I lived in (before I bought my home) got bought out by investors who raised the rent by like, $300 per month as they renovated units. You know what happened over the next 6 months? A total revolt! People started moving out in the middle of the night, and others bought small homes 30 minutes away since the mortgage was cheaper than the rent! I had a good relationship with the property manager and she was telling me that their vacancy rate was getting way too high since people were leaving and no one was moving in. Then the new owners added move in incentives, dropped credit score requirements and lowered the rent to attract more people. So really, the rental market will change based on the demand.
In summary, Gentrification helps more than it hurts, but for those it hurts (low income seniors and disabled), it can be a pretty terrible experience....I think that’s why so many people have an issue with it.
The only thing consistent in life is change. I agree stagnation is by far worse!
