A Civil Rights Defense of Gentrification
Abstract
Scholars across disciplines such as sociology, economics, and urban planning are writing about gentrification. The literature and beliefs surrounding gentrification are very diverse, but what often connects the various views is a negative perception that gentrification always disadvantages and displaces low-income minority residents, physically and/or culturally. But the connotations of race and class associated with gentrification in the minds of many do not align with the empirical research and scholarly findings. Thus far in law, there is no thick legal account of gentrification and its legal / policy implications. Much of the legal writing is predicated upon an inaccurate conception of what gentrification is, as opposed to exploring the assumptions upon which the conception is based.
Professor Carol Brown’s forthcoming article in the Temple Law Review argues that gentrification of low-income, segregated neighborhoods, holds an untapped integrative potential. This potential remains untapped because of an undue coupling of the concepts of gentrification and displacement. According to this coupling, gentrification cannot exist without, nor can it be disassociated from, displacement of low-income and minority people. To the contrary, gentrification, in tandem with other affordable housing mechanisms, holds untapped potential to make real inroads into our segregated housing patterns.
This Article offers a different approach to understanding and contextualizing gentrification. Its central contributions are two-fold. It examines the widespread beliefs that form modern misperceptions about gentrification. And, it explains how legal interventions at all levels of government can help facilitate the Fair Housing Act’s goals of equal access and integration in housing. Once examined, the core issues emanating contemporary and historic animosity towards gentrification reveals itself. And, once this occurs, it becomes evident that gentrification can be part of an approach to redressing socioeconomic segregation.