Why is gentrification good

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NicolasMcComber Getty Images. The data set contains the census tract usually a handful of blocks; and which comprises a small neighborhood where residents were living and where they moved to if they moved , and this can be exploited to determine how much of their mobility is being driven by gentrification.

They investigate the likelihood of a resident moving from one census tract to another by comparing movement rates for those in non-gentrifying neighborhoods to those in gentrifying neighborhoods, controlling for a host of other factors, separate from gentrification, that might impact whether a person moves or not.

Given their data set, they focus on residents without mortgages and who have low credit scores—which is a proxy for low-income, rent-paying residents. Based on their analysis, they conclude that. In this case, the authors use fine-grained data from a New York State Medicaid database. Here the focus is on the possible displacement of children in low-income households.

Specifically, they use the database to track where 56, New York City children were living and whether they moved or not from to They were also able to determine whether they lived in public housing, subsidized housing such as rent-stabilized , or free-market housing. Then from this group, they define those that gentrified as experiencing the most rapid growth of college-educated in-movers from onward. Comparing children in those census tracts that gentrified versus those that did not, they find that low-income children who were living in gentrifying neighborhoods were no more likely to move than children who lived in non-gentrifying census tracts.

This finding holds even for low-income children who lived in market-rate rental housing. They also write,. Contrary to fears voiced by many, we find that the average low-income child who starts out in areas that later gentrify experiences a reduction in neighborhood poverty, mainly because the majority do not move as neighborhood income rises around them.

Most cities in the U. At the very local level, people frequently live in neighborhoods characterized by high levels of racial or ethnic homogeneity. But gentrification has the potential to reverse this trend in the sense that it is normally associated with an influx of college educated white households into minority areas.

The problem is that these in-movers are often seen as interlopers or invaders. But, if, as most people believe, integrated communities are beneficial to residents and society , the question remains about how gentrification affects the composition of neighborhoods.

Here they investigate cities throughout the United States. Similar to above, they define the set of low-income gentrifiable neighborhoods census tracts and then split them into those that gentrified versus those that did not, based on the growth in their relative incomes.

They find that. Many are seeing little change in their white population share in the decades following gentrification. Indeed, neighborhoods that became integrated through gentrification appeared to be more racially stable than those that integrated through households of color moving into predominantly white neighborhoods.

Another assumption about gentrification is that the wealthy interlopers bring in their expensive business, such as Whole Foods and Starbucks, and hire people from far away. But the question remains, how does the entry of new establishments in gentrifying communities affect employment opportunities for low-income locals? On the other hand, if the new businesses require higher skills or less labor in general, or use in-house hiring mechanisms, as might be the case for large chains, then opportunities for locals may be diminished.

Here, the authors investigate the case of job growth in the New York City metropolitan region from to They then separate them into two groups—those that gentrified and those that did not based on income growth. Here the results are somewhat mixed. But, as the definition of live-work zone expands to say within the one-mile area , gentrification is associated with higher employment going to local workers.

They write,. We find that employment effects from gentrification are quite localized. Incumbent residents experience meaningful job losses within their home census tract, even while jobs overall increase.

These job losses are concentrated in service and goods-producing sectors and low- and moderate-wage positions; but local residents do see gains in higher-wage jobs in very proximate live-work zones and lower-wage jobs slightly farther away. In other words, employment effects are quite mixed. Closer to home, jobs seem to become less available to residents, but employment opportunities still exist within surrounding neighborhoods.

For poorer families remaining in gentrifying neighborhoods, how do the young fare as wealthier people move in? Gentrification can potentially improve health because of increased safety, access to nutritious foods, better parks, and perhaps more healthcare itself, if new clinics or medical facilities move in. On the other hand, rapid changes might lead to more uncertainty and loss of friends, and children may see their parents suffer from financial stress and anxiety if prices rise rapidly.

Again, similar to the other studies, they compare gentrifying neighborhoods to those that did not. In short, they do find a bump in anxiety rates, but otherwise, no other differences.