Reply to Gentrification shaming makes no sense to me.

Forum Index » Real Estate

Reply to "Gentrification shaming makes no sense to me. "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Buying a house you will love and live in - and, if you have kids sending them to the local school  vs private schools - can be okay.
Scooping up properties and renting them out at higher rates gets dicey. [/quote]

Why dicey? Fixing up dilapidated properties serves the neighborhood by reducing vacant properties that are unsafe and attract crime. It is hard work so why shouldn’t that work be compensated? Is a farmer selling tomatoes for a profit acting immorally? [/quote]

You're centering the house as an investment transaction and not focusing on its inhabitants as members of the community. The point of focus matters. Everyone enjoys looking at well-maintained houses, but when someone is more focused on the ways they can use their resources to make more money through gentrification than the ways in which they can use them to strengthen and support the community, it suggests that they don't really care about their fellow neighbors all that much.  Not to mention, many gentrifying neighborhoods are full of long-time residents with deep roots, and certain types of flipping (like condo splits) really undercut that by attracting residents who are less likely to set those same roots themselves.

I'm a white gentrifier.  I don't feel guilt at being in this position; segregation has never been the answer to our country's problems with race, and cheap rowhouses near downtown were a historical anomaly that was never sustainable.  But I recognize that being higher-income and white means that I have some extra responsibility to be a good neighbor and help lift up the community that already exists.  I don't just try to mold it to be more like me. It's not so hard to understand.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics