How I Let Go of Gentrification
Today, talk of gentrification abounds and that talk is increasingly heterogeneous. On a field trip with my students, a tour guide used the term not to describe class turnover in post-industrial neighborhoods, but to gesture to a much longer history of population replacement. For him, gentrification conveyed a century of racialized displacement: from the replacement of Black populations by changing industrial uses, to urban renewal, and, finally, to present-day real-estate speculation. Used in this manner, gentrification encompasses the displacement of marginalized populations, regardless of form, decade, or origin. This example is just the tip of the iceberg. All kinds of people rely on gentrification to talk about transformations, many of them unrelated to cities. For instance, reporters refer to the gentrification of the churro and the gentrification of Burning Man. Here, gentrification denotes the upscaling of entities that aren’t neighborhoods; the churro has become more expensive and Burning Man has transmogrified into a festival-destination for the wealthy and celebrities.
You Can Gentrify Anything Today. What Does that Say About Society?
Boston University ethnographer Japonica Brown-Saracino says gentrification means more than a fresh coat of paint and rising real estate prices in old neighborhoods. It’s about how the market can turn anything into a hot commodity—and take it out of the hands of the people who nurtured it.
Are YIMBYs winning the housing wars? Not so fast, these people say
From city council hearings to the halls of academia, the debate raged for years. Then came 2020, and Americans raced to buy homes during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Prices shot up, pushing the U.S. median to $410,800, a 30 percent increase in five years, Federal Reserve data shows. Median prices go significantly higher in the West ($531,100) and Northeast ($796,700). Now even starter homes are increasingly out of reach.
Raising incomes essential to lifting residents out of deprivation says report, but what about affordable homes?
Louisville’s Anti-Displacement Commission finally gets off the ground
Members of Louisville’s Anti-Displacement Commission met for the first time Tuesday afternoon. The meeting was a long time in the making. The Louisville Metro Council passed the Anti-Displacement Law nearly two years ago. It directed city officials to work with researchers to develop a tool that could analyze proposed developments and determine if they were likely to displace neighborhood residents through higher rents or property taxes. Any project that would lead to displacement would no longer be eligible for public funding.
From land takings to gentrification, East Boston has seen generations of ‘lost futures’
During his time as a postdoctoral research fellow, social worker Josh Lown found he didn’t have to look beyond his own East Boston neighborhood when doing research for a paper on “hauntology.” The term, coined by French philosopher Jacques Derrida, describes the emotional toll of unforeseen changes on a community.
Louisville inches toward implementing 2023 anti-gentrification law
Almost two years after Louisville Metro Council passed an ordinance to combat gentrification, the city still has not fully implemented it.
Standing outside a city-owned building on South Fifth Street last month, advocates with the tenant union PUSH Louisville held signs saying “Stop playing, we’re staying” and “Fight displacement — use the tool.”
Community benefit or conflict? A neighborhood fund and a Boston city councilor’s role in it.
The proposal called for converting the historic but derelict Alexandra Hotel in the South End into a 70-unit condominium tower. To build good will in the neighborhood, the developers committed to making a six-figure “community benefits” donation. The recipient? An obscure nonprofit, District 7 Community Fund Inc., the only known type of community benefits fund in Boston set up to benefit a single city council district.
Louisville Launches ‘Anti-Displacement Tool’
The city of Louisville will begin using a new algorithmic tool to assess the potential for displacement of proposed housing projects, according to a Shelterforce article. “The tool analyzes whether a given project meets the neighborhood’s housing needs and income levels, ensuring that rents match local incomes. If the development does not meet these standards, then the city cannot subsidize it.” City officials hope the tool will make development more equitable and ensure that city funding does not contribute to the displacement of long-term residents.
‘Anti-Displacement Tool’ to Direct City Funding to Projects that Won’t Price Out Residents
The City of Louisville will soon begin using a newly developed algorithmic tool that aims to stop city funding from going to housing projects that would displace local residents. The tool was mandated by a tenant-led 2023 law and, after a year of development by researchers at Boston University, was approved for use in November 2024. Now, it’s ready to be deployed on upcoming development proposals.