DoomGoober t1_j4tvi3a wrote on January 18, 2023 at 5:25 AM

Reply to comment by va_str in New apartment buildings in low-income areas lead to lower rents in nearby housing units. This runs contrary to popular claims that new market-rate housing causes an uptick in rents and leads to the displacement of low-income people. by smurfyjenkins

Here is a blurb from Shelter Force:

>Even worse, however, new construction actually fuels displacement in the short term, even when no already existing housing is knocked down. Why? Numerous studies show that market-rate housing development has price ripple effects on surrounding neighborhoods, driving up rents and increasing the burden on lower-income households. Many residents in communities transformed by gentrification can already attest to the connection between for-profit development, rising living costs, and the mass exodus of lower-income residents.

https://shelterforce.org/2018/11/05/heres-what-we-actually-know-about-market-rate-housing-development-and-displacement/

Note they explicitly call new market rate construction "gentrification" even with the disclaimer "no already existing housing is knocked down."

I don't know who or what Shelter Force is, but clearly this group (which I found with a simple Google search in like 2 seconds) does not only consider replacing low income housing as the only form of gentrification.

It considers simply adding market rate housing as a form of gentrification that causes rents to rise. (Which is disproven by the linked post, if it is to be believed.)

Edit: my Google search was: "adding market rate housing gentrification". And Shelter Force is:

>Shelterforce is the only independent, non-academic publication covering the worlds of community development, affordable housing, and neighborhood stabilization.

Uh... Not exactly a ringing endorsement for their bona fides but they have been around since 1975.

https://shelterforce.org/about/

I have heard many housing advocates repeat the same idea that even adding market rate housing drives up prices for everyone. I just provided one specific example to prove I am not making it up.

va_str t1_j4u8fzl wrote on January 18, 2023 at 7:53 AM

Fair enough, I guess I can mostly only speak from my own experience. I come from the perspective where community members are forced out of their homes by rent-increases specifically to clear the properties for re-development, and the union steps in. That's exclusively where we use the term and oppose gentrification. I don't recall any case where we would have opposed entirely new properties being built.