IN THE FACE OF GENTRIFICATION: Case Studies of Local Efforts to Mitigate Displacement Diane K. Levy Jennifer Comey Sandra Padilla In the Face of Gentrification: Case Studies of Local Efforts to Mitigate Displacement Copyright © 2006 Diane K. Levy Jennifer Comey Sandra Padilla The Urban Institute Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center 2100 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute or to its trustees or funders. Acknowledgements Acknowledgements We would like to thank the Fannie Mae Foundation for funding and helping give shape to this study. In particular, Sohini Sarkhar, formerly with the Foundation, helped move the study along from start to completion. Anonymous reviewers provided by the Fannie Mae Foundation offered us excellent comments on the draft report, which we took to heart in our revisions. The study itself, of course, was dependent upon the willingness of people in each of the six study sites to meet with us and share their experiences and expertise on neighborhood change and affordable housing. We extend a special thanks to each of them for making this study possible. Their names and affiliations can be found in the list of resources. We are grateful for the help of Urban Institute colleagues. Jessica Cigna and Kathryn Pettit provided us access to HMDA and Census data specific to our study sites, as well as advice on developing the methodology for site selection. We greatly appreciate the work of Diane Hendricks with production of the report, which would not have happened without Marge Turner’s support for publication. Scott Forrey and Fiona Blackshaw helped clean up dangling modifiers and misplaced commas, and Maida Tryon launched the report on our website. As with all reports and publications, any errors and omissions remain the responsibility of the authors. In the Face of Gentrification: Case Studies of Local Efforts to Mitigate Displacement Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Gentrification and Revitalization 1 The Need for Affordable Housing 2 Study Methodology and Housing Strategies 4 Findings 8 Organization of the Report 9 CASE STUDIES 10 Early Stages of Neighborhood Revitalization/Gentrification 11 St. Petersburg, FL - Bartlett Park 12 Sacramento, CA - Oak Park 22 Middle Stages of Neighborhood Revitalization/Gentrification 32 Atlanta, GA - Reynoldstown 33 Los Angeles, CA - Figueroa Corridor 43 Late Stages of Neighborhood Gentrification 52 Seattle, WA - Central Area 53 Chicago, IL - Uptown 66 CONCLUSION 76 Displacement Mitigation Strategies 76 Cross-Cutting Lessons 79 Wrapping Up 82 In the Face of Gentrification: Case Studies of Local Efforts to Mitigate Displacement REFERENCES 83 ENDNOTES 86 APPENDIX 1 APPENDIX 2 Introduction 1 section 1 INTRODUCTION oncern, and anger, over gentrification has grown in communities across the country as housing rental and sales prices have soared. Housing markets strengthened during the C 1990s along with the national economy, and have remained strong even while the economy began to slow down in the spring of 2000, one of the few sectors to do so. Decreases in affordable housing units have accompanied the higher prices in many places, and there are numerous reports of resident displacement from neighborhoods long ignored that now attract higher-income households. Increased housing prices themselves are Bartlett Park (St. Petersburg, Florida), Oak not a problem per se. It is when costs Park (Sacramento, California), increase in predominantly lower-income Reynoldstown (Atlanta, Georgia), Figueroa neighborhoods where residents’ incomes do Corridor (Los Angeles, California), Central not keep pace that displacement can occur. Area (Seattle, Washington), and Uptown As housing prices increase, lower-income (Chicago, Illinois). households are at risk of being pushed out or prevented from moving into certain The types of strategies used to prevent geographic areas because of the prohibitive displacement are influenced by a number of costs and limited household earnings. It is factors, including intensity of the housing this geographic component, along with market, local political climate and local restricted economic opportunities, that organizational capacity. Through the case makes gentrification-related displacement a studies, we consider the impact of timing on problem. strategy selection and implementation to untangle whether certain approaches work Balancing the revitalization of better in different housing-market contexts. neighborhoods while reducing the risk of displacement of low-income families poses Gentrification and Revitalization a challenge for city officials and housing practitioners. In this study, we present For the purposes of this study, we define strategies used by nonprofit organizations, gentrification as the process whereby for-profit developers, and city agencies to higher-income households move into low- ensure low- to-moderate-income residents income neighborhoods, escalating the can live in revitalizing and gentrifying area’s property values to the point that neighborhoods. We present strategies used displacement occurs. In addition to changes in the following neighborhoods in 2003: in economic class, gentrification often involves a change in a neighborhood’s 2 In the Face of Gentrification: Case Studies of Local Efforts to Mitigate Displacement racial and ethnic composition, which can neighborhoods are those in which prices further alter an area’s characteristics, have risen sharply, yet affordable housing potentially leading to community tension. remains available along with some developable land parcels. Communities at Gentrification also involves investment in the later stage of gentrification are those previously neglected neighborhoods. Those where the housing prices have skyrocketed, entities seeking to minimize displacement there is little affordable housing or few associated with gentrification face the developable parcels, and the demand for challenge of encouraging neighborhood profitable, market-rate housing investment without negatively affecting overshadows the needs of lower-income residents who have weathered years of households. neighborhood disinvestment. The Need for Affordable Housing We characterize the neighborhoods in this study as being in an early, middle, or later Though it is difficult to find data on stage of gentrification in order to examine displacement, evidence of changes in the the usefulness of strategies within the housing market and the effect on context of the local housing market, and to households is strong. Inflation-adjusted acknowledge the balance needed between home prices rose faster in 2001 than any encouraging revitalization and managing time since the late 1970s, and 2002 almost gentrification. Though there are no exact matched that pace (Joint Center for Housing thresholds for identifying different stages of Studies 2003). Roughly 40 percent of the gentrification, the concept of stage is nation’s renter households spend 30 important in regard to housing strategy percent or more of their income on housing, selection and success. Neighborhoods while 20 percent spend at least half their showing signs of revitalization with the income on housing. The picture is especially possibility of future gentrification—evidence dire for low-income households: almost half of housing improvements and increased (46 percent) spent 50 percent or more on housing prices in an area proximate to other their housing in 2001 (Joint Center for gentrifying neighborhoods—are Housing Studies 2002). characterized as the early stage. Mid-stage Introduction 3 Defining Gentrification There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification, although the aspect of higher-income households moving into lower-income neighborhoods is included in most versions. Urban geographer Ruth Glass first coined the term gentrification to describe London neighborhoods in the 1960s. She defined it as the process of middle- and upper-class households moving into distressed working-class neighborhoods, upgrading the derelict housing stock, and eventually displacing the working-class residents, thereby changing the social character of the neighborhood (Glass 1964). Contemporary definitions reflect Glass’s description of class change. For instance, some observers describe gentrification as the rehabilitation of working-class or derelict housing into housing for middle- class residents, or as the process of higher-income households moving into neighborhoods that have suffered from systematic outmigration, disinvestment, or neglect (Atkinson 2002, Wyly and Hammel 1999). Gentrification also has been described as the middle- and upper-class remake of the central city— not just a residential phenomenon, but one that affects commercial and retail areas as well (Smith 1996). Other observers include a racial component in their definition of gentrification—new, higher-income residents are white and the incumbent, lower-income residents are racial or ethnic minorities. This change can lead to tensions along racial or ethnic lines in the gentrified neighborhood (Kennedy and Leonard 2001). Not all definitions of gentrification include the displacement of the incumbent, lower-income residents. Some observers argue that displacement is not a necessary outcome of gentrification if original residents cannot afford to move elsewhere or are attached