The Role of Gentrification on Affordable Housing

This post reviews the information in the UtilitiesOne article titled "The Impact of Gentrification on Affordable Housing in Residential Neighborhoods" published on November 21, 2023.

Link: https://utilitiesone.com/the-impact-of-gentrification-on-affordable-housing-in-residential-neighborhoods#

Gentrification is first defined as an urban renewal process that invokes neighborhood transformations. The article informs several positive economic impacts of gentrification, such as increased property values due to increase in desirability and appeal, improved infrastructure and public systems, and general economic growth following the attraction of new businesses and wealthy residents. However, gentrification in its nature also displaces a city's existing residents who are unable to meet the rising costs of living, causes housing prices to skyrocket beyond many average residents' safety net, and fosters a loss of cultural identity and heritage. Gentrification paves the way for a wider income gap and increased inequality, socially fragments communities, and elicits mental and emotional strain from city residents.

The article then delves into causes behind the phenomenon, detailing several factors: a heightened demand for desirable, urban living, municipal/zoning policies, and an influx of developers. While sometimes bearing consequences, these leading causes of gentrification are arguably vital contributions to the improvement and urbanization of cities. Thus, people are forced to utilize alternative ways to face the social consequences of gentrification as opposed to tackling it from its source. Some of these strategies include affordable housing initiatives and historical preservation of cultural heritage.

Most notably, affordable housing is an effective combat to gentrification as it provides a reasonable cost of living for residents. The article discloses several strategies in preserving affordable housing: Rent control, community land trusts, inclusionary zoning, and cooperatives. Rent control limits landlords' ability to raise rent each year and retains the accessability of affordable housing options to low-income tenants. Community land trusts are nonprofit organizations that discern between land and building ownership and can provide home leases to families in need. Inclusionary zoning is described as a "policy tool" where developers are required to produce a certain number of affordable housing units per each of their other projects, maintaining the accessability of affordable housing to low-income residents. Finally, cooperatives or "co-ops" are locally resident-managed groups that collectively make decisions.

In my opinion, the most interesting part of this article was the contention made about the causes of gentrification. Improving communities is a positive feat, and developers will continue to pursue projects in lower income neighborhoods in order to do so. Under these circumstances, gentrification will continue to foster. However, it is in the hands of local governments, resident communities, and local activists to employ strategies such as affordable housing to combat it.