Gentrification will become passé

Affordability, not gentrification.

Gentrification will become passé

First, let me agree that affordability is a huge issue in thriving cities today.  And affordability has distinct racial, equity and equality components which need to be addressed as we seek a more just and humane world.

That said, gentrification seems to have become the bogeyman for all manner of urban ills.  

I recently read an article about the relationship between transit upgrades and housing prices in Houston.  I suppose the same could be written for almost any city that invests in transit, especially fixed service (Metro, light rail, BRT) that imparts permanence.  Probably since the stagecoach, properties proximate to stations got a bump in value.   

I recently attended a seminar where gentrification was solidly blamed for recent changes to the historic composition of a Brooklyn neighborhood.  Left unsaid was the fact that the racial and ethnic composition of the neighborhood had changed at least twice in the last 150 years.  NIMBYism in sheep’s clothing?

The pushback and mischaracterization of the end of single-family zoning in Minneapolis and elsewhere has already begun.  Single-family zoning is entirely classist and racist, but it IS cheaper per square foot to build a stick frame split level ranch than a three-story apartment (excluding external costs like roads and sewers that the city picks up).  So get ready for a slew of accusations that allowing multi-family units raises prices, aka gentrification.