Reply to Educate me - why is gentrification bad?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Gentrification is bad because people need a place to live. Period. [b]This prices them out of housing. [/b]Sure you can stay if you own your home as I do but taxes increase with the inflated home values and when I sell I still need somewhere to live. Yeah. I know. I can move way out or to another region which is fantastic except as an older person, I'd appreciate being near decent medical care and not have to drive far for everything.

And if you rent, you're pushed out with the quickness. Great for you with the high incomes but many hard working people don't have them. [/quote]

That is oversimplified nonsense.  It prices people out of housing [u]in a particular neighborhood[/u], or it prices them out of a particular house/apartment.  In 1994, I wanted to rent in Georgetown, but couldn't afford it, so I rented in Clarendon instead.  In 2004, we wanted to buy in Dupont Circle, but couldn't afford it, so we bought in Columbia Heights instead.   In 2015, we wanted to buy in Spring Valley, but couldn't afford it, so we bought in Bethesda instead.

Is it a bummer?  Sure.  Is it a reason to put significant controls and protections into the real estate market?  Absolutely not.  [/quote]

Pure privilege on display here.

"Look guys, when I wanted to buy in an expensive, safe, lily-white neighborhood chock full of amenities and transit access and couldn't afford it, all I had to do was move to a slightly less expensive, safe, lily-white neighborhood chock full of amenities and transit access. Easy peasy!"

And what about when you get pushed out of Anacostia, or Capitol Heights? When the new neighborhoods you can afford are food deserts and you don't make enough to keep a car? When the new neighborhoods you can afford mean your commute time triples because now you have to take two buses to work that only come every half hour but you can't afford childcare for that extra time?  When you have to move out because you can't afford the new rent and your slumlord landlord refuses to give you your security deposit back so you can't even afford to move into ANY new neighborhood and even though you know you left the apartment in perfect condition you can't afford to take the time off work to fight it?

Not everyone can "just move to Clarendon." [/quote]

For starters, if you think Columbia Heights is either safe or lily-white, you aren't paying attention, but that's neither here nor there.  Moreover, you don't address the central point of my post, which is "gentrification" doesn't price someone out of "housing," as the initial post stated, but it merely priced them out of a neighborhood, or apartment, or street.

But, I'd like to ask what you think should be done about the natural phenomenon of "gentrification."  Should people of a certain income level not be permitted to rent or buy in a neighborhood?  Should apartment buildings with more than bare bones amenities not be permitted?  Should businesses be discouraged from opening there, because they might lead to increased rents and/or property values?

Should the city subsidize increased rent payments from residents of different neighborhoods? Just long-term residents, or all residents?  And how long is long-term?

In short - what do we do to combat this?  I'm all ears.  
[/quote]

Being unable to move into a neighborhood you might want to live in isn't quite the same as being pushed out of the one you already live in, though.[/quote]

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