We have focused on what cities have done in the past to colored families in cities and here is a modern example of what is currently happening.

Why it matters: Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement that the city's new Anti-Displacement Tax Relief Fund program will relieve "the burden of escalating property taxes, including in rapid gentrification."

NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Katrina opened New Orleans up to become one of the most intensely gentrified cities in America. 

In a 2020 study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, New Orleans ranked 5th in the country’s 20 most gentrified cities. New Orleans is now a city where the cost of living has surpassed the rate of pay for many and with the disparities and disadvantages exacerbated by Hurricane Katrina.

Kent was among the top five spots in the county with the highest numbers of eviction filings during the pandemic,

-bella

According to the city’s Neighborhood Conservation Plan and Housing Affordability Strategy, about 51,000 households are in areas where displacement is a high risk or already in progress and have an income below $75,000. In those same areas, 81% of residents identify as Hispanic, Black or another non-white group. 

Rising costs pushes black, longtime residents, out of neighborhood, excluding them from the new benefits of development. Downtown Detroit is nearly unrecognizable from previous decades, with new features such as the QLine streetcar system, a renovated Detroit Tigers ballpark, a riverwalk, and Campus Martius Park.

Plans to redevelop a former industrial site with a large Ferris wheel, marina, apartments, and retail spaces, has some residents worried about potential gentrification in the area, as the development could drive up property values and potentially displace current residents with higher rents.

Seattle is the third most quickly gentrifying city in the US, after Washington, DC and Portland, OR (The Seattle Times [web]). Gentrification is often the outcome of decades of segregation, redlining, and urban renewal policies that exploit the large gap between existing and potential property values, which in turn encourages an influx of wealthier residents. Young professionals and more affluent people move back into the urban core, often into neighborhoods that have historically been home to people of color; this new wealth quickly changes the look and feel of the neighborhood, increases the cost of living, and displaces the original residents. 

The aftermath of the fires have raised worries from the black residents from Altadena, California. They are fearing developers swooping in to displace residents

Lily

"Today, the district is synonymous with bachelorette parties and day drinking, with once-beautiful historic homes built in the 1800s converted into bars, now barely recognizable behind lights and awnings and beer posters."

-Iliana

In January, Mayor Michelle Wu announced $40 million in new funding to create and preserve over 700 income-restricted units of housing in Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, Chinatown, Hyde Park and Roxbury. Plus, last month, Wu formed the Rent Stabilization Advisory Committee, on which Dorcely serves. The committee has been tasked with evaluating how rent control would work in Boston.

"The Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago has become subject to increasing gentrification in the past three decades"

"Within the last 20 years, as Pilsen has become increasingly gentrified, household income has risen significantly as lower-income individuals have been displaced by wealthier individuals moving into the neighborhood"

"Throughout the second half of the 20th century, residents of Pilsen fought hard against proposed development projects and blighting schemes that likely would have spurred what we now call gentrification"

"As of 2018, over 10% or 161,343 low income households (households making below 80% of AMI) lived in areas at risk of or currently experiencing gentrification. Nearly half of these households live in either Alameda or San Francisco counties."

¨ High rents and new development have caused a number of small businesses across San Jose to close shop or to cease operations entirely.¨ ¨A number of small businesses in San Jose fear displacement from proposed or upcoming projects.¨

For original residents who do not move away, gentrification reduces their exposure to poverty, and if they’re homeowners, it increases their home values. For the original residents’ children, gentrification increased their probability of attending college.

Bella