Introduction
Gentrification refers to a process where the character of a neighborhood is changed through the migration of more affluent businesses and people. The terminology is a controversial topic in planning and urban politics. Gentrification leads to people moving out of their homes because of the area’s socioeconomic status change. Therefore, the costs of gentrification through home displacement are much more than the benefits of the concept. The consequences of gentrification outweigh the benefits because of the inequality it brings to society. Gentrification mostly affects the low-income elderly Latino population through residential and cultural displacement. The paper highlights how gentrification leads to cultural displacement in gentrifying areas, particularly among Latino communities. In addition, it focuses on residential displacement and the new locations for the displaced, where overcrowding becomes the order of the day.
Cultural Displacement
Cultural displacement occurs when there is an advancement in the scale of residential change. As a result, the services and shops only target new entrants, making the place’s attributes to be transformed (Hyra, 2017). Therefore, those who remain may feel dislocated even though they could still be in the neighborhood. Gentrification could be viewed within the uneven treatment of specific areas and ethnic and racial groups. In this case, addressing the issues of gentrification needs to be attentive to details of future residents, current residents, and displaced ones. Some cities have resorted to policies that seem to favor the displaced poor people. In this case, such cities embark on preferential policies of the right of return which target the former inhabitants of those who risk displacement.
Gentrification has negative cultural consequences for displaced people. This case leads to discriminatory practices by people in power and authority and forced displacement. Additionally, gentrification focuses on spaces that do not have people of color and low-income individuals in mind (Hyra, 2017). For example, most Latino populations have always been affected by gentrification, leading to displacement. The culture of such people has also suffered immensely as they are forced to move out of their localities, leading to cultural displacement.
In most cases, it disrupts a place’s usually established parameters, creating a disjointed new locality. People who are displaced suffer immeasurably because they can no longer afford the new life in the neighborhood (Cohen, 2018). Rent becomes expensive and unbearable, and the costs of food and other social amenities skyrocket. The new cultural changes become unbearable to the old population that has called the area home for many years.
Gentrification leads to discomfort and nostalgia among the displaced communities, such as the Latinos. Such discomfort leads to the migration of such people from the area to pave the way for new entrants (Varnum & Grossmann, 2021). Discussions concerning gentrification are likely to elicit mixed reactions because some think the concept leads to cultural assimilation, and others think it leads to cultural displacement.
For most people, gentrification happens to be a concept that erodes community ties because of the increase in rent and the displacement of communities. For example, the displacement of large rental communities in Virginia, mostly Latinos, is often attributed to gentrification. In this case, the economy is uprooted because of selling property to new entrants who have a lot of money (Christafore & Leguizamon, 2018). When a property is sold to the rich, it is bulldozed to pave the way for luxury and affordable housing units that new entrants can only occupy. Such new houses do not favor the old tenants because they are not affordable and are not many to accommodate everyone who had previously lived there.
When a particular community, such as the Latino, undergoes numerous changes because of gentrification, it feels like it is isolated, particularly in a situation where it has lived in the area for many years. Therefore, old tenants feel like they are residing in a different environment and that it is not welcome to their cause (Hyra, 2017). When high-income populations join the old tenant community, modest shopping facilities are replaced with top-notch chain and departmental stores that attract an affluent clientele (Cohen, 2018). Many places feel less intimate and familiar with the new arrangement and are replaced by higher prices and people they do not recognize. In this scenario, old inhabitants lose their social connections and ties, making them move out. In many cases, gentrification localities are usually places of ethnic or racial minorities, such as Latinos, that were not desirable at some point.
Residential Displacement
There are cases where old tenants or residents can no longer afford to remain in their traditional residential units because of the skyrocketing rental charges. In addition, such residents may also be forced to relocate elsewhere because of evictions and lease non-renewals (Hyra, 2017). Such people also move out because of neglected physical conditions, making residential units not habitable as property owners look for redevelopment opportunities. In many cases, such gentrification happens in low-income neighborhoods that target new development opportunities to suit an affluent population. As a result, it leads to an influx of well-to-do people who change the attributes of the residential area.
A gentrification is a form of urban renewal that favors the rich and discriminates against the poor. When the affluent population moves into the neighborhood, the poor move out, which forms the basis of discriminatory practices (Cohen, 2018). This form of exclusion of low-income residents happens because of discriminatory policies such as banning tenants who possess housing vouchers, zoning, or changes in land-use patterns that alter residential development. For example, residential units that have no children could be singled out for demolition and redevelopment so that the rich can move in.
The old tenants cannot afford to shop in the new establishments as they target the new and affluent population (Varnum & Grossmann, 2021). Furthermore, the area’s property prices rise considerably to the detriment of the old tenants who cannot afford to stay in the gentrifying area. Most property owners and landlords resort to harassing the old tenants so that they can move out of the gentrifying place. Such landlords are only interested in selling or renting the property at higher prices. Longer tenants pay less in rental rates because of a stabilized rent environment. When those tenants leave the locality, the property owners have no other choice except to hike the rental rates on the premises for the wealthier residents (Cohen, 2018). Some ways that encourage such people to move out include neglecting maintenance for tenants and raising rental charges until residents are fed up and forced to move out by the circumstances (Christafore & Leguizamon, 2018). In addition, such tenants neglect their duty to provide heat during cold weather, making such people move out of the property for more accommodative neighborhoods.
The old tenants moving out of the gentrifying areas tend to find a community where they belong and can fit in. On the other hand, such people also try to look for neighborhoods whose socioeconomic status they can fit and afford rent in the new locality (Cohen, 2018). However, there are dangers for some people suffering from serial displacement because gentrification could also be experienced in the new areas they move to. In an area undergoing gentrification, low-income residents vacate homes to pave for affluent individuals. As a result, other low-income people cannot afford life in the locality because of increased sales and rents in the gentrifying area. Therefore, this leads to a concept referred to as exclusionary displacement that affects the vulnerable people in the community.
Conclusion
In conclusion, gentrification happens to be a concept where people are displaced from their neighborhoods to pave the way for new forms of development with new people. In this case, it is a concept that leads to cultural and residential displacement. In cultural displacement, residents lose social ties with their new neighbors and shopping amenities. In residential displacement, the area’s property values increase, leading to the displacement of the old tenants who are forced to move out by the new circumstances. While some people may be assimilated to the new cultures in the gentrifying areas, most people are forced to move out of the old neighborhood to a low-income area. One of the most prominent communities that have experienced gentrification is the Latinos. In this case, the Latinos have always been disadvantaged and displaced to low-income settlements to pave the way for nee forms of development.
References
Christafore, D. & Leguizamon, S. (2018). Neighborhood Inequality Spillover Effects of Gentrification. Regional Science Association International, 98 (3), pp. 1469-1484.
Cohen, N. (2018). ‘Feeding or Starving Gentrification: The Role of Food Policy.’ CUNY Urban Policy Institute. Web.
Hyra, D. (2017). Race, class, and politics in the cappuccino city. The University of Chicago Press.
Varnum, M. & Grossmann, I. (2021). The Psychology of Cultural Change: Introduction to the Special Issue. American Psychologist, 76 (6), pp. 833-837.