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Title: Does Gentrification Harm the Poor?

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2002

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Abstract: The first section begins the examination by illustrating the demographic shifts most commonly associated with gentrification, and then offers two competing explanations for them. The competing explanations motivate two very different views of the distributional effects of gentrification. In the first view, revitalization of urban neighborhoods causes changes in well-being among disadvantaged households. In the second view, gentrification is merely a side effect of other broad economic trends that affect the poor. The analysis also makes clear that residential displacementthe primary focus of most existing literature on the consequences of gentrificationis neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for declines in the living standards of poor households.The following section considers the general equilibrium effects of gentrification beyond the housing market. Increases in the local tax base might improve the quality of local public goods and services. Employment opportunities in certain industries might improve with the arrival of a more affluent clientele; that is to say, gentrification might partially solve the urban "spatial mismatch" problem. 7 Finally, gentrification might decrease the urban concentration of poverty, ameliorating the ills associated with it. 8 The subsequent section reviews the literature on the distributional impact of gentrification, and concludes that previous studies are too narrowly focused to fully address the question of whether gentrification harms the poor.

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Authors: Vigdor, Jacob L.

Periodical (Full): Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs

Issue: 0

Volume: 2002

Pages: 133-182

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Poverty and Welfare

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