Religion & Gentrification

“how American Christians could solve the housing crisis if they stopped meeting on Sunday mornings”

1. what about other religious groups? is this critique specific to christians, or even religious groups? who else has a stated interest in caring for the displaced population, and has the resources to accomplish their stated goals? (not rhetorical)

1. gentrification overview

   1. what it is

   2. who it excludes

   3. why it matters that they are excluded

      1. social

      2. economic

2. what can be done to improve without displacement

   1. CLTs

      1. social benefits

      2. economic benefits

      3. cost issue

3. the american christian church is perfectly positioned to lead the CLT charge

   1. the US Christian church has a lot of money, and tends to spend it on larger services

   2. issue of church = local government

      1. the church wouldn’t really have that much control over how the CLT would be governed, if the CLT ran with the 3x3 format that most follow (3 member of the community, 3 that live in the CLT, and 3 government officials)

Gentrification is a process defined by the inflow of capital into a previously disinvested urban area. It goes by other names. Urban renewal, neighborhood renovation, locational placemaking, and other positivist labels all describe the same general process. There are many beneficial outcomes from gentrification (increased access to high-quality groceries, healthcare facilities, and better infrastructure), but I would like to focus on one particular negative effect: displacement.

Displacement occurs when the people residing in some area become unable to stay there. In the case of gentrification, this inability to stay typically results from being unable to afford rising domestic or commercial rents, but can also be caused indirectly by a lack of community or conflicts with incoming residents of radically different cultures.

Imagine a minority family living in a slightly run-down apartment building, whose community is slowly moving away as rents go up and old neighborhood businesses close one by one. As familiar neighbors leave the area, they are replaced by white, middle-income creatives who complain about the lack of local bike lanes. The taqueria down the street shuts down and the storefront is bought and renovated by Starbucks. Over time, the family in question begins to feel out of place in their old neighborhood. They avoid their new neighbors, and have the sense that they are being watched or evaluated constantly. Rent gets raised, and they move to a cheaper place on the outskirts of the city. This type of situation is the basis of gentrification.

Why does it matter? Isn’t it just an economic function, and won’t the family be happier when they move to

it matters for two reasons: 1. social. 2. economic. 1. community matters, and unless everyone displaced from one neighborhood populates the entirety of some other neighborhood, their community is irrevocably degraded. 2. displacing people removes the cultural-historical vibrancy that made the area attractive in the first place

(this is specific to areas that are gentrified along the standard track of 1. low- or middle-income area that has room for improvement, but is full of cultural heritage (“use value”). 2. creative class (the population linking creative production to the market, i.e. designers, artists, curators) moves in to experience the vibrancy of the area. 3. through the creative class, the aliveness of the area becomes visible to the rest of the world and investors park their capital in the area. 4. the area becomes “nicer,” but rising costs push out both the original population and most of the creative class. They are replaced by middle- or upper-income folks looking for a comfortable but interesting place to live.

The challenge intrinsic to gentrification is that the process requires fundamental changes to the place in question. As change occurs, the place loses the essence of its desirability. The end result is a culturally neutral space that either forcibly and constantly markets its long-gone heritage, or else overwrites that history with a narrative of conquered chaos. In short, gentrification is a process that transforms areas of high cultural value into areas of high market value.

This economic alchemy has plenty of positive outcomes: better schoolteachers, new bike lanes, healthier groceries, and faster emergency service response times all accompany the process of gentrification. Gentrified areas make more money for property and business owners, are better-policed, and have less litter than ungentrified areas. These are all wonderful things. But they aren’t for everyone.

The cost of the amenities listed above is paid by the original residents of an area experiencing gentrification. Inflowing investment is linked to increases in property costs, taxes, food prices, and education costs. Longstanding social amenities - mom & pop restaurants, niche cultural hangouts, and _____. suffer increased operating costs and might be priced out of their traditional locale. Improvements in social amenities require increases in taxes and commodity pricing that can only be accommodated by the relatively upper-class.