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Growing up in the city of Philadelphia, there is something every Philadelphian has noticed at least once in their life: In Philly, neighborhoods drastically change from block to block. Growing up in the neighborhood I live in, I always noticed how every time I got just a block or two from my house, the environment would transform. I live in a higher-income neighborhood, and walking just a few minutes to the south brings me to a completely different place. Houses were older and smaller, more people sitting outside, and more litter on the ground. Neighborhoods often get judged based on their appearance and as a kid I always wondered why my neighborhood was considered ‘nicer’.
Gentrification has had some very large effects on the city of Philadelphia, both positive and negative. Especially in the last decade or so, the pace of the reconstruction of Philadelphia has increased immensely. But what does this mean? People tend to notice only the positive effects, ignoring the negative. Specifically, gentrification is displacing families, segregating our city, and erasing the sense of ‘community’ in Philly. Gentrification has had serious effects on the history and community of the neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Even though the streets of Philadelphia are being ‘cleaned up’ and appear nicer, gentrification has destroyed the sense of community and has done a lot of harm. Not only that, but it has also violated the rules of democracy, because the people in these lower-income neighborhoods are not in control of their own community and its way of life.
Gentrification has placed people who were already in financial struggle, into worse situations with new obstacles. Because of the displacement of so many Philadelphians, gentrification has contributed significantly to the housing crisis in Philadelphia. This displacement is caused by raising the prices in an ‘up and coming’ area. The properties in that neighborhood rise in value, causing landlords to raise their rental prices accordingly. According to The Inquirer this has had a huge impact on the low income residents of Philadelphia. “Quite frankly, the problem is only escalating. Because of expiring affordable housing contracts with private owners, the city estimates that there are 14,500 households that could face the same fate as the residents of the University City Townhomes over the next decade. As those contracts come to an end, the owners can exercise their right to opt out of continuing to provide affordable housing, and many are doing just that: turning once-affordable units into market-rate developments — which could mean another 14,500 families facing eviction.” Based on that information, it brings up the urgent matter of more than 10,000 families facing possible homelessness, which of course contributes to the housing crisis. Because the people who are already struggling financially are being forced to move to an even poorer neighborhood, it creates more/new obstacles that makes it even harder for them to succeed. The Philadelphia Inquirer notes that “Two harsh realities — the failure to maintain an aging housing stock and the impending expiration of thousands of affordable housing contracts — have already begun to converge in our city.” These realities will make an already terrible situation worse. As the numbers of homeless Philadelphians grow, shelters will be overwhelmed, abandoned buildings will be occupied by squatters, and more homeless people will be out on the streets. LISCPHILLY, points out that there are many organizations working to improve the situation in Philadelphia, but that problems remain. “However, with thousands of families lacking affordable housing, 5,700 people living in homeless shelters or on the streets, and some even taking over vacant buildings, there is far more work to be done.”
Another problem with gentrification in Philadelphia is how it is further segregating our city. Philadelphia is the 4th most segregated large city in the country. The segregated neighborhoods of Philadelphia date back to since before the civil rights movement, and were created through redlining by the government. How does redlining affect those neighborhoods today? According to the City Controller, Rebecca Rhynhart, “Without access to lending and legal deed ownership, minority populations in Philadelphia were forced to reside in neighborhoods condemned by the federal government as unworthy of investment. This denial of opportunity has compounded in the decades since, leading to unequal outcomes across Philadelphia’s segregated neighborhoods nearly a century later. Historically redlined areas of Philadelphia continue to experience disproportionate amounts of poverty, poor health outcomes, limited educational attainment, unemployment, and violent crime compared to other neighborhoods in the city.”
These redlined areas today are just considered to be ‘run down’ and ‘bad’, which means they end up being developed instead of supported. And the answers to the real question of how gentrification contributes to this outcome lie in how it leads to higher prices, forcing low income families to move to even poorer neighborhoods. For example, LISCPHILLY says, “Additionally, gentrification, which is rampant across different areas of the city, is pricing low-income Philadelphians — primarily Black, Latinx, and low-income Philadelphians — out of their own neighborhoods.” Redlining in Philadelphia never stopped, it has only continued and developed. And because these residents are primarily people of color, the effect of gentrification is creating an even more segregated city. The problem, according to The 1619 Project, “The fair housing act, passing in 1968, prohibited discrimination in housing, but it did not reset real estate values so that homes in redlined black neighborhoods, whose prices had been artificially deflated by government policy, would be valued the same as identical homes in white neighborhoods, whose worth had been artificially inflated.” This meant that redlining, invented as a way to circumvent the fair housing act and force people of color into poorer neighborhoods, led directly to the rise of gentrification, where white developers could buy depressed housing stock for very little, convert it to expensive housing and sell it for many times the amount of money paid to the former residents.
Yet another way that gentrification has negatively impacted the city of Philadelphia is how it has destroyed the feeling of community in neighborhoods. When the people that make a neighborhood a neighborhood, people who have lived there for generations, get pushed out it destroys that sense of community. History, culture, and community all get erased with gentrification. There is a very ignorant view on the neighborhoods that are being gentrified that is very two-dimensional. But residents of these neighborhoods have a better understanding of their own neighborhood and community.
There is a very ignorant view on the neighborhoods that are being gentrified that is very two-dimensional. But residents of these neighborhoods have a better understanding of their own neighborhood and community. Cora Turpin, who has been a long term resident of north Philadelphia, says, “There was much community spirit. Guys used to harmonize on the corner stoops. There was no violence or fear thereof.” Which goes to show that outsiders’ views can be very uninformed about the way things work in communities they have no part of. This concerns not only the physical and visual impact of the destruction of a neighborhood and a way of life, but also the psychological impact on those residents. In the words of The Philadelphia Inquirer, “For Yvonne Gibbs, who was only offered units in North or South Philly, leaving West Philadelphia — where she’s lived her entire life, and where her family, doctors, and church are located — is distressing.” The issue is the relentless drive by developers, once a neighborhood has been targeted, to buy up every available space and make long-time residents move away. As property values rise in a neighborhood, long-time residents see their taxes rise dramatically despite the fact that they’ve made no improvements to their own homes and they receive no increase in city government services. The pressure of these changes makes it difficult to refuse when developers offer to buy their houses for amounts that are a lot to poor residents, but very little compared to what the developers will get when they resell. It’s a battle that is being lost all over Philadelphia. “If we fight for it, it could be a neighborhood, still recognizable for its history and culture, with businesses, schools and green space for Black people to meet and greet. The history of North Philly and its residents is constantly rewritten because our elders are gone, and it’s easier for those who plan for us to dictate the narrative of blaming the people who live here for their condition.”
Not only is the destruction of these neighborhoods harmful, but it is disrespectful. As previously mentioned, looking at these neighborhoods two-dimensionally is ignorant, and the way it causes developers to treat and view these low income communities is dehumanizing. According to WHYY residents from these neighborhoods of Philadelphia feel that “The disrespect, the condescending attitude of developers who don’t give a darn about the community, has to be stopped,” said Claudia Sherrod, the outgoing director of South Philadelphia H.O.M.E.S., a social services nonprofit. “They’re building three-story homes because they want to get their money’s worth. Well, money’s worth is fine, but there’s no interest in how the character of the community was.” And neither do the people moving into these neighborhoods.
Most see buying houses in gentrifying neighborhoods as an investment opportunity and are betting that as more of the neighborhood is ‘improved’ their own homes’ values will rise. This is an attitude that does not endear them to the long-time residents of such neighborhoods. “I think of a ‘gentrifier’ as someone who moves into the neighborhood because they see its ‘potential,’ or that it’s ‘up-and-coming,’ ” Dervinis said. “That’s offensive terminology to me. Moving into a community you want to see changed is not a community.”
After looking at how gentrification has impacted the communities of Philadelphia, through how it has displaced and harmed thousands of families, contributed to the segregation of neighborhoods, and destroyed the sense of community in the city, it’s safe to say that gentrification has caused a lot of harm. It would be selfish to say that gentrification has caused more good than bad with all this information. The problem is not that gentrification is ‘making the neighborhood nicer’ it’s how it takes advantage of people in low-income neighborhoods. The problem is deeply rooted in racism that is still in our system today. To solve this problem people have proposed property tax laws that take less from people in that income bracket so they can be able to afford to stay. It’s very unlikely that this will happen, however, because of legislature in Pennsylvania.
Sources:
https://www.phillymag.com/news/2016/05/27/gentrification-graffiti-clarkeville/
https://www.phillyvoice.com/phillys-neighborhoods-defined-race/
https://whyy.org/series/gentrified-stories-rapidly-changing-philadelphia/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j6ov7U9X8mI0_aApf5LuEHnYvLeYM5mg/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wT3JooTX6FlZ_dnXBAHvt3Rovoa7W2H3/view?usp=sharing
https://whyy.org/articles/surprising-truth-behind-racial-dynamics-gentrification-philly/
https://news.stanford.edu/2020/12/01/gentrification-disproportionately-affects-minorities/
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