gentrification

PREFACEPolicyLink, a national nonprofit research, communications, capacity building and advocacyorganization, is dedicated to advancing policies to achieve economic and social equity based on thewisdom, voice and experience of local constituencies. Since our founding in 1999, few, if any,issues have galvanized these local constituencies as urgently as the phenomenon of gentrification.There is widespread concern that some neighborhood revitalization efforts are destabilizingcommunities that have strong traditional and cultural significance for low-income people of color.People living in areas of concentrated poverty hope that the renewed interest in their neighborhoodsportends an improvement in the quality of their lives. However, as they watch property values andrents rise, they worry that without knowledge, strategies and allies, the physical improvements thatthey have long sought will not be theirs to enjoy. As a result, there is a powerful demand for reliablefacts and useful policies that will enable community residents to embrace and fashion revitalizationand maintain their residency.The development patterns that lead to gentrification are shaped by a complex array ofprivate and public actions at the local, regional, state and federal levels. The patterns of growth anddecline, investment and disinvestment occurring throughout metropolitan regions reflect more thansimply economic opportunity and changing values. They also mirror failures to come to grips withissues of race and societal inequity. Avoiding or addressing the adverse consequences ofgentrification on low income people of color, therefore, will ultimately require policy solutions at alllevels that promote a genuine vision of regional fairness and inclusion that benefits all residents inthe region.Working with community-based practitioners, PolicyLink is creating an equitabledevelopment framework that can achieve that vision. Equitable development policies and practicescombine people-based and place-based strategies; create new tools and instruments to enable lowincomeresidents to gain an equity stake in the revitalization of their communities; and actively buildthe voice of residents so that they become agents of change in the development process. This reportis an important beginning in that it sorts out the causes and consequences of gentrification; explainsthe differences among cities’ patterns of development; and illustrates the economic, social andpolitical forces at work through several instructive case studies. The Brookings Institution Center onUrban and Metropolitan Policy and report authors Maureen Kennedy and Paul Leonard have beenexcellent partners, and we hope that this work adds value and raises the level of discussion on theseimportant issues.Angela Glover BlackwellPresidentPolicyLinkviii