Does Gentrification Equal Displacement? Explaining Neighborhood Change in Gentrifying Neighborhoods
Gentrification has emerged as the most controversial type of neighborhood change in America today. Much of this controversy stems from the fact that while gentrification can bring benefits in the form of an enhanced tax base and improving amenities and services, gentrification is also perceived as changing the character of poor neighborhoods through the wholesale displacement of the original poor residents. According to a new study conducted by Lance Freeman, an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at Columbia University, the process of neighborhood change in gentrifying neighborhoods is not that simple. While gentrification is associated with displacement in some gentrifying neighborhoods, succession, whereby residents who move as part of the normal turnover that all neighborhoods experience are replaced by more affluent residents, appears to a more important explanation of how gentrifying neighborhoods change.
Freeman's pilot study was supported with seed funding from the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) at Columbia and is published in the March issue of Urban Affairs Review. Freeman's results demonstrate that, contrary to popular belief, gentrification drives few low-income residents from their homes. Comparing mobility and displacement in gentrifying and non-gentrifying neighborhoods, he finds that a poor resident's chances of being forced to move out of a gentrifying neighborhood are only slightly greater than in a non-gentrifying one. Moreover, the overall mobility rates were similar across gentrifying and non-gentrifying neighborhoods suggesting that while there is a slight surfeit of displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods there may be other residents who are more inclined to stay in the presence of gentrification. The results of this study are a corollary to Freeman and Braconi's 2004 findings that in New York City poor residents of gentrifying neighborhoods were less likely to move. Both findings show that it is possible for gentrification to occur without widespread displacement. The findings also suggest that some residents of gentrifying neighborhoods may be motivated to stay due to the improvements taking place.
In the face of such results, Freeman argues that other factors may be larger determinants of how neighborhoods change, and that the influx of different types of residents will have different effects on how a neighborhood changes. "Who moves into the neighborhood appears to be more important in explaining neighborhood change in gentrifying neighborhoods," he says. This and the decreased possibility for moving within the neighborhood for older residents are more typical engines of neighborhood change, Freeman concludes. "Households that would have formerly been able to find housing in gentrifying neighborhoods must now search elsewhere."
Although displacement may be relatively rare in gentrifying neighborhoods, its potential traumatic impact should not be neglected. Columbia professor Mindy Fullilove has coined the phrase "root shock" to describe the traumatic stress reaction to being displaced. Her new book, Root Shock details the psychosocial effects of displacement on African American communities displaced by urban renewal. In addition, the fact that poorer residents are less able to move into gentrifying neighborhoods indicates the stock of affordable housing in these neighborhoods in shrinking. Freeman acknowledges these problems and argues that, despite the low rates of displacement, urban planners and policy makers still need to anticipate the effects of gentrification on housing affordability and implement strategies that insure the poor have access to decent housing in all neighborhoods.
See Also
- Seed grant: Gentrification and the Poor
