Negative Effects Of Gentrification On Oakland

The gentrification and displacement debate is more controversial than ever in Oakland, California. You can see it everywhere from the outskirts of West Oakland to Lake Merritt, and all throughout East Oakland. There is no denying its strong prevalence throughout the city and the reverberation of both negative and positive effects it brings with it. Oakland was once notorious for violence and its high crime rates and now it has become an up-and-coming hot spot for newly affluent and mostly white residents while pushing out low-income African American and Latino residents.

Growing up in East Austin, one would be accustomed to seeing rundown neighborhoods inhabited mostly by African American and Hispanic working-class families. In the past few years though, the view has drastically changed. Now brightly colored two-story homes housing affluent Caucasian families occupy the once dilapidated areas. The previously desolated lots are now the future sites of lofts and condominiums. The recent changes in East Austin are a clear sign of gentrification. Gentrification is the extremely evident process of displacement. Revitalizing a derelict neighborhood favors the entire community, not just the ones with money. However, revitalization and gentrification

Over the past twenty years, San Francisco’s Mission District has experienced a tremendous amount of change. Similar to many neighborhoods across the United States, it has been undergoing a gentrification process in which increases in housing prices, redevelopment in buildings, and a shortage of rental units have left many of its low-income population homeless or on the verge of becoming homeless. In order to understand the controversial issue revolving around the gentrification process taking place the Mission District, it is essential to know the history of the Mission District, San Francisco’s geography and housing laws, and the socioeconomic impacts of gentrification.

Gentrification can be defined simply as the shift in the makeup of the people in a community. It is the transition in a community from a run down, poorer area to a more wealthy demographic. Gentrification starts with the increase of property values caused by brokers and real estate agents. These brokers and real estate agents usually benefit the most from gentrification. Businesses that are moving in are storefront coffee shops, cafes, boutiques, etc. Since these newer, nicer shops are occupying the storefront, the rent for the apartments above rise, causing many people to lose their homes. The new tenants that move into these apartments are typically young and hip. They prefer to hang out at these coffee shops below. These new landlords are more in touch with the demographic changes and are looking to change the area in order to make money. The older, current landlords do not see a need for change. Some people will argue that gentrification is inevitable. While gentrification is happing all over the world, I did my research specifically on downtown Kansas City, Missouri, Harlem, New York, and DUMBO, Brooklyn, New York. Gentrification comes with both positive and negative effects. These three areas each show a unique perspective on gentrification.

Gentrification brings positive long term effects to communities and cities nationwide. Direct results of gentrification for both the residents and the city are the economical growth, local job opportunities created and a higher tax base available. (Stacey Sutton, Urbanly planning Scholar, defined gentrification as): Gentrification is the process of higher status people renovating lower class urban neighborhoods to satisfy middle-higher class standards (Sutton, 2015). In the process of gentrification throughout the United States, it is positively impacting the economy in more ways than one. One benefit of gentrification is the economical growth residents benefit from.

Now days walking down the streets of Atlanta, we see the new neighborhoods consisting of condos, Starbucks, yoga classes and Chipotle. Gentrification is a growing problem in urban areas as the influx of the riches have caused the displacement of lower class families due to higher economic demands and local politics. According to Diane K. Levy, Jennifer Comey and Sandra Padilla (2005), “We define gentrification as the process whereby higher-income households move into low income neighborhoods, escalating the area’s property values to the point that displacement occurs. In addition to changes in economic class, gentrification often involves a change in a neighborhood’s racial and ethnic composition…” (p.1). Though gentrification has lasting affects on the economic status of cities, there are also repercussions that not only effect working individuals but also the students that attend school in these gentrified areas. When areas are gentrified, schools are rezoned thus leading to long lasting consequences that students must face. Some believe that gentrification is beneficial to a growing economy in a growing city, but the realities of the its lasting effects on education are often left under the radar. The issues that lie within the education system as it pertains to gentrification include day segregation and unequal opportunities between affluent and low-income areas.

Gentrification has been discussed many times by various authors in many forms, many take its side and many disagree with it, but there’s never an unanimous vote on it being good or bad, it’s heavily based on perspective and owns experience. Many issues are brought up in these discussions, from displacement, class, financial repercussions, etc. Gentrification is definitely not a new phenomenon and it has been even happening since humans started settling in cities. Usually when a commoner suddenly came into more amount of wealth than usual and improved upon his surroundings that resulted in higher classes of people to get attracted to that area sometimes driving or even forcing the lower class out, this phenomena can’t really be stopped because

When cities begin their journey of being gentrified, many locals become displaced. Displacement is when locals are uprooted from their homes, due to outside factors, and forced to move elsewhere. According to the Urban Displacement Project conducted by U.C. Berkeley, “Gentrification results from both flows of capital and people. The extent to which gentrification is linked to racial transition differs across neighborhood contexts... Displacement takes many different forms—direct and indirect, physical or economic, and exclusionary—and may result from either investment or disinvestment” (U.C. Berkeley). Many people are coming into San Francisco’s Bay Area because of how diverse each element is. However, according to Census numbers, between 1990 and 2010, 35.7% of San Francisco’s black population dwindled (Bliss). 35.7% of the black community within San Francisco suffered from displacement. An additional 53% of low-income households in the Bay Area are at risk for displacement and gentrification (U.C. Berkeley). This has definitely left a dent within the diversity reputation held up by the Bay Area. When such a strong large part of people leave, The City will experience a shift in culture and community. Whether, it is the real estate, the food, the different cultures, the Bay Area has always been known for being different. Perhaps, this is why so many outsiders are coming in and buying up every piece of land they can. Whether their intentions were to purchase land and

First, let's start with what gentrification is. Google defines it as “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste”, but the image Gentrification usually evokes when brought into discussion is hipsters moving into a run-down but charming neighborhood and transforming it into something completely different. What is a hipster? Some may call them the fairy godmothers of the once neglected area, and others may refer to them as the monsters that are displacing families to make an artisan beard oil shop, but we’ll touch on that later.

Gentrification in Chicago is kicking thousands of low income people out of their homes, but can it be a good thing? “Gentrification is the process of renewing and renovating urban, low-income neighborhoods, usually to help accommodate middle and upper class citizens causing an increase in property values. This often leads to many lower class residents abandoning the community and the foot print they may have left there. The nice part of this act is that it can put a good impact on the city and its economy. But who is this affected the most and how can we help? I know that this act can hurt a lot of people, but I do believe it has more positive effects than negative.

Communities that are becoming more gentrified have already seen an improvement of life, and positive lasting changes in those communities. Patrick Gillespie

According to Dictionary.com, “gentrification is the process of renovating houses and stores in urban neighborhoods to fit the middle or upper-income families, raising property value, but often displacing low-income families.” Gentrification has been an idea since the 1960s and had an effect on countless cities and neighborhood communities. Gentrification was first used by Ruth Glass in her book London: Aspect of Change in 1964, she noted that ¨gentrification can progress rapidly until all or most of the original working-class occupiers are displaced, and the whole social character of the district is changed.” Nonetheless, gentrification has helped revive many cities and revolutionize them, especially with technological

Gentrification is a problem that is occurring in many communities. The city of Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles is one of the communities that the citizens of the community are notice new apartments build, galleries owner by rich people, and high prices for apartment the people are not able to afford to live there. Because the renewal of neighborhood environments that transform and attract middle and upper-class households and investors, creating problems for those who cannot afford rises of rents. According to O’Regan, “some of the biggest concerns about gentrification-potential displacement and increased rent burdens-are driven by rent or housing cost increases” (152). The only way to

As a process, gentrification has had both a negative and positive impact on the society as well as affected the economic status of the involved countries or towns. As a way

I think that gentrification is still getting worst and worst every day, The reason being is that the rent is always increasing and hasn't stopped yet. The impacts are that the population decreases in gentrified areas. And the ones who left are struggling to find a new home.