Displacement: The Gnawing Injustice at the Heart of Housing Crises
How Gentrification Affects Small Businesses
One of the biggest fears of new development and infill is that existing residents and local businesses will be pushed out to make way for those with more resources. But the common wisdom, save the buildings and the residents and businesses will be saved as well, isn't always accurate. Sightline talks about how preserving older buildings can turn out to backfire when it comes to displacement of residents, and Strong Towns talks about how "gentrification" actually affects small businesses.
“Because preservation adds no new housing to the city’s stock, it doesn’t relieve the demand for housing. When people hunting for housing outnumber homes, the inevitable results are rising prices and economic displacement of those at the bottom of the economic ladder—people with more money move in, and those with less have to move out. The simple solution: build more housing. The closer we get to having enough homes, the fewer families will face displacement.”