Content warning: inequality and violent crime
The time is here. They're inside our doors, invading our homes. They will tear. They will break. They will destroy. And we have prepared the way, meekly surrendering to their onslaught. And, in time, they will build. Our landlord has started renovations, so lets talk about a little thing called gentrification.
I don't know if you know what that is or not. Maybe you have heard about it and have a vague idea. This is all simplified of course, and the causes can be very varied. The gist of it is that it's a process of making an area more affluent, ”nicer”, or more ”gentile” (gentile → gentrification, and yes, I know the derivation is more complicated than that). Bigger business and their clientele moves in and the economic value of the area goes up. Crime and poverty usually goes down at the same time. There will probably be less littering and the area will look better.
”That sounds nice!” I hear you say. And yes, there are some definite good things happening here, but perhaps you noticed that I at least tried to have a cynical tone about it. I'm not exactly bursting with joy over here.
”But hang on”, you might say, ”how is this a bad thing?” I'm glad you asked! Lets take it from the start. Gentrification is a thing that happens naturally as cities grow and the economy prospers. You can't exactly stop it. People want to live close to wealth and trade. It's where the jobs and best shopping is. And the wealthiest of us have the most means of making that happen, so the neighborhoods closer to the centre of the city will usually have the most expesive and luxurious homes, and the local shop will be catering to those customers. The surrounding areas and suburbs will usually hold the cheaper homes for the less wealthy and local business will be geared towards people with less money. Of course there are suburbs and neighborhoods not in the city centre that are more upper class than others, but even there the wealth is concentrated in certain areas.
All of this is maybe not that surprising to you. But interesting things happen when the city and/or its wealth grows. Then areas that were lower class will in a way ”level up”. The wealth distribution will change, and that ”leveling up” is called gentrification.
”Yay! More wealth to more people!” But not so fast. Lets see what that looks like with an example:
Family Ason just got a big job promotion and wants to move to a nicer home. There are none available in the centre, so they're exanding their view. They find homes in neighborhood X that are freshly renovated or recently built, and they look perfect. The cost of living will go up, but they have more money now so it's okay.
Family Bson has been living in neighborhood X a long time now. They have low paying jobs, but have always made due. They're often engaged in local activities and feel like a part of a community. But lately more houses have been built and more homes have been renovated. They looked at the costs of these new homes and were shocked at how much more expensive they were to their own home. During community activities they have also noticed several missing faces, people who have said their goodbyes and have moved away. As new people moved into these new homes Bson have also lamented the closing of several local businesses that weren't doing so well anymore. In their place new shops have opened, but the no one in the family feel particurarly interested in them or feel that their services are too expensive anyway. Now they have recieved a notice from their landlord that their home will undergo renovation to repair old pipes and such. And as a bonus they will get a redone bathroom and kitchen. Of course, rents will be increased as well. When reading this Bson get a sinking feeling in their stomachs.
Gentrification is an inevitable effect of growth, but if left unchecked it can shatter communities, kill local business, and destroy lives. As with most things, the ones who pay the price are the poor.
In our case our landlord want to change old pipes and redo bathrooms and balconies. They decided to do this after problems with crime in our neighborhood came to a head a few years ago. Two young men, boys really, were shot to death outside our home in a drive-by. Both were involved in a criminal organisation revolving one certain family and the murders were retributions for earlier killing, and they were not the last. They were however the last here, as the policed stepped in and went hard against the organisation, leaving them in jail or scattered over the city and country. The police did a good job of solving that situation (apart from how they treated some of us who live here. I seriously doubt I'm ever inviting a police officer into my home ever again), and to begin with the landlord did as well. They redesigned the immediate area of the double murder so it looked nothing like it did before, making it possible for the victims' close ones to process their grief better and walk through it without being reminded of their loss breaking down in sorrow every time.
But then the landlord decided to renovate the entire neighborhood. This is my conjecture, but I believe the reason for this is twofold. They want to repair their reputation of having this ”bad” neighborhood. And they want to gentrify the area to be able to make more money from rent. Sure, the pipes are probably old and need changing, but they could have done far less to achieve that. In fact, when these ideas were proposed they recieved heavy criticism from the tenant's association because it would leave to a large portion of residents unable to pay rent. Negotiations where hard and drawn out. In the end we get one months rent back and seven years of unchanged rent, which is great. But it leaves me wondering what will happen after those seven years. In ten years, how many people will have been forced to move? Will everyone find new homes in time when we currently have a lack of housing in the country? Will everyone be able to keep their jobs after moving? Many of the small shops in the area will probably be replaced by not just new ones, but big business ones. And how many friendships will end because of distance?
When it comes to my own family I'm not worried. We have plans and will probably handle it fine. We are not really people persons (people people?). Our friends live all over and we travel to see them. But I see many gatherings outside our windows, large families celebrating many different events. There's music, food, laughter, and all kinds of happy things. Will that be gone in ten years time? How is it for other neighborhoods that don't get seven years, but maybe six months, or nothing?
Gentrification happens, and it's definitely not all bad. But when it happens it's basically a hurricane of change for everyone who lives there. Many people can get seriously hurt, not all might even make it out with a roof over their heads or even alive. It is my belief that we as a society have a responsibility to make this change as easy for the people involved as possible.
And whatever you do, don't take it out on the workers! They're only doing their jobs.
Take care of yourselves.
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