The Week, February 19, 2020: The stubborn myths of rent and gentrification
My neighborhood has many murals, the latest of which is painted on the side of a BBQ joint rumored to be slated for demolition and replacement, probably by a four-story, mixed-use building with retail on the bottom and apartments on top. You know the type. Most of the mural is text, and it reads: “Development without displacement.”
Given the mood, politics and history of the area — half a century ago, the flourishing Black neighborhood a couple blocks south was gashed down the middle by federal highway construction — I’m certain the mural should be read as a demand and that its location is an act of defiance. New construction here is by default approached through the standard narrative of gentrification: Adding market-rate housing is expected to drive up housing costs throughout the neighborhood, pricing longtime residents out of their homes.
But what if that stubborn narrative isn’t true? There’s a growing pile of compelling evidence that the gentrification story as we know it is wrong.
