Gentrification In Neighborhoods

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Another problem that arose in this supposedly positive gentrified area is that the middle-class gentrifiers possessed more political and economic resources than their poorer counterparts. This resulted in the enactment of city policies that favored the middle-class at the expense of the initial residents. Shaw and Hagemans draw on multiple examples of this form of disenfranchising. For example, in order to address the complaints of upmarket restaurant proprietors the city council tore down the toilet block where groups of aboriginals would congregate. The ability for the middle-class to affect policy in a way that creates a disparity between the original neighborhood culture and the new culture of the gentrified neighborhood is not the positive …show more content…
Therefore, it is imperative that a policy be put in place to lessen the effects of displacement on the working poor in gentrifying neighborhoods. The process of gentrification appears to be a phenomena that occurs as a natural reaction to the post white flight and the subsequent Reagan-era, post-industrialized world our society currently inhabits, so it is futile to enact a policy that halts the process. The policy must, then, be one that attempts to build up the original inhabitants’ ability to coexist with the middle-class gentrifiers without resulting in the failure that is positive gentrification. Therefore, the policy that should, or rather must be implemented is that of a progressive property tax on housing units over a certain …show more content…
This policy provides three ways in which the working-class will be able to live in gentrified areas. First, it allows a subtle form of disincentivization to occur. Thus slowing the rate of gentrification. Second, it allows for the funding of projects and services that will allow the working-class to actually benefit from gentrification. Finally, it will force landlords, real-estate moguls, and other agents of gentrification to lower housing costs in gentrified areas. In order to slow the rate at which an area is gentrified, the policy must disincentivize gentrifiers from rapidly implementing the renewal process. At the current rate observed, the rapid gentrification of an area causes the existing residents to experience the loss of place. Therefore, by disincentivizing middle-class occupation of working-class neighborhoods the change will be less dramatic. This policy is also not drastic enough to completely disincentivize middle-class movement, for the rate of taxation is not high enough to be noticeable by the majority of prospective home