Gentrification Pros And Cons

Introduction Gentrification is a trend in urban communities that causes the displacement of lower income, long-time residents and small businesses with affluent middle class households. Due to the shift in culture and socio-economic status of these urban communities, there is an increase in property and rental taxes, which makes it impossible for the lower income families to compete with the rising housing rates. Gentrification has been identified as a social problem. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was implemented to address discrimination in the housing market. This public policy can also be utilized to tackle the social injustice of gentrification. One can look through several lenses to analyze the effects of gentrification on urban communities. Researchers have raised an important question; does gentrification help or harm urban neighborhoods? In what ways have the Fair Housing Act of 1968 been effective or ineffective to the social problem of Gentrification? Additionally, one can …show more content…
These different perspectives can be measured by weighing the pros and cons. In most ideological debates the two different arguments comes from conservatives and liberals. Based off research, a conservative perspective may view gentrification as a solution to increase property values and the restoration of historic neighborhoods. Whereas, per Beauregard, “Advocates on the Left agree that gentrification is a significant phenomenon, but for different reasons…. neighborhoods are disrupted and non-gentrified, low-income neighborhoods become overcrowded when the displaced relocate there and compete for lower quality housing at higher rates (p. 58).” Furthermore, Beauregard explains that “from this perspective, gentrification represents another instance where command over space is achieved through economic power, with the poor, elderly and minorities bearing the costs of social change (p.