It used to be called "re-gentrification", until folk got wise to its meaning - that a neighborhood was "re-peopled" by other people. Now it is just Gentrification, implying that no one lived there when the "gentry" arrived. Much like "discoverers" of a land on which millions have lived for thousands of years. It is a term and act of hubris - of self-centered sin.
It is at least as old as Isaiah - 3:14, 15 and 65:21,22. Trampling the poor for one's own gain is older, but also addressed by the prophets - Amos 8:4-7 and elsewhere.
Gentrification is the pushing out of poorer folk for the sake of richer folk, so that they can buy property cheaply and restore it, bring better services to a neighborhood and take it over. The old sayings that "the rich get what they rich want" and "white folk get what white folk want" go together.
For some, it is the "taking back" of properties that they abandoned in the 60's during "white flight". For others, it is the recognition that, like with what we did to native Americans, this land that was abdicated to "those people" in the past we now find some value in (new beltline, some culturally diverse and popular offerings that are attracting people, etc.), we must get back because it will become MORE valuable.
Cities intentionally create this reality by letting neighborhoods go without police protection, schools go without enough resources, businesses not getting service support and making poor city services for the residents the norm. Realtors create this reality intentionally and arbitrarily, convincing folk that these properties are a "steal" (and they are, quite literally) and that the neighborhood is an "up and comer". Developers create this reality intentionally by buying up properties and fixing them up to attract a few folk first, and then the many come as more and more of them look better. Unscrupulous landlords/slumlords create this reality by collecting rents for years from folk while not doing any work on the properties, and then kicking them out when they know the value of the property is higher. They all benefit. The richer, whiter folk who move in benefit. Those who have lived there, some for thirty years, who have rented or who have not had high paying jobs or who have had some financial or medical tragedies, or who are now on a fixed income lose. As property values go up because "those people" are moving in, they get pushed out.
It is the same with renters, landowners with little money and local, individually owned businesses. As property values go up, taxes go up and rents go up and folk cannot stay where they are. Many businesses are then just closed, because without enough start-up capital, they cannot start over again, and properties in the communities they have served for many years are too expensive to lease or buy now in order for them to stay.
Some folk move in, younger and whiter, because they love the city and they can afford a house, which can be the start of the realty/developer gentrification process. Some of them love the city for its diversity and the realness, even grit of the city. Some of them moved from the suburbs and want to make the neighborhood like the suburbs, the school like the suburbs, the restaurants and stores like the suburbs and the neighbors like in the suburbs. They will get better city services, better police responses, better schools and better businesses because they demand it - because people with money and of the majority culture get what THEY want. They profile the people of color and poor folk living in the neighborhood, treat them as if THEY are intruders in their neighborhood, objectify folk and never REALLY get to know them but judge them as being "less than" they are.
Some folk who have lived in the neighborhoods see it as their time to cash in. They were slumlords or property speculators (whether with business or residential properties), buying up houses and apartment buildings and renting them without taking care of them, or for some, letting them sit vacant until the property values go up. As soon as they can, they evict those living in their rentals or jack up the prices so high that they cannot pay their rent, get them out, refurbish the properties now because it will PAY THEM to do so, and sell them. They are unscrupulous and ruthless folk. People were foolish to give them their trust, but often faced with few other choices did just that, and now they are hurt for it.
Realtors and developers are another story. Some of them ignore major issues on their buildings but make them LOOK really nice and jack up the price out of greed, but also to artificially drive up local property values, trying to make folk believe they are worth the high prices. Doing this with multiple properties at a time gives the appearance of some change happening in a neighborhood, and these folk, well established in a business of arbitrary "location, location, location" property values, cash in at the expense of those pushed out AND those who bought the place with multiple, hidden issues.
Those who have been victimized - those who have been pushed out, react differently. Some get angry and go the area meetings, the city and voice their opinions. It is too late for them, but folk do get to hear what is going on, and maybe someone else will be able to fight the process because of this "heads up" or at least have time to plan moving with a little more time. they do not want to see this happen to someone else in the weeks and months to follow. Others say nothing and move as best they can. This allows others to be blindsided and not see it coming for THEM.
The truth is that with all this being done intentionally, residents in neighborhoods have to get MORE intentional about KEEPING CITY SERVICES, SCHOOL SERVICES and BUSINESSES healthy in their city neighborhoods in the first place, and intentional on DEMANDING that a percentage of housing in EVERY neighborhood be set aside and preserved for those on low or fixed income.
The bad news is that folk, even those who have seen it before, don't see it coming. Even when others who are vocal point it out, they put their head in the sand or believe that there is nothing they can do about it. The bad news is that the unscrupulous, ruthless, unconscionable and immoral slumlord, realtors, developers and home buyers will intentionally do whatever they need to in order to benefit themselves through the exploitation and at the expense of whoever they can exploit. They smile in your face, are friendly at neighborhood gatherings, serve you their homemade brew, fix up your house for you, drink and laugh and sit on your porch with you but are always looking for the opportunity for personal gain at the expense of whoever provides an opportunity. And folk often know it but never expose them for it, which helps to victimize the next family who happen into their path.
The good news is that there ARE folk who know the Agape Love that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled. They actually ARE followers of Jesus who live what Jesus offered as a better Way. There ARE folk who know what is going on, and who are NOT silent about it. They will do what they can, out of love for neighbor, to keep others from being hurt by this insidious, evil process. The good news is the hope that, as even in the time of Isaiah, justice, equality and equitable treatment will be the end because people who love God and neighbor DEMAND it.
So, where do YOU lie in this GENTRIFICATION picture?
What will YOU do about it?
Pastor Jamie
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