To this article’s credit, the relationship between gentrification and displacement is scholastically and socially complex, detailed, controversial, and contradictory. For example, a study of Boston from the 1980s to the 1990s found that in the time period of study, residents reported an increase in housing, neighborhood, or public service quality, while about one third of households were worse-off. The study could not definitively say, however, that these results were from gentrification or from any other possible scenario such as a group of people falling on hard economic times; to subtract the effect of gentrification from the numbers is practically impossible (Vigdor 171).
However, as stated by Newman, underestimating displacement can hurt the poor, causing them to lose social capital and known policy-makers, and causing them to join a veracious housing market. Newman estimates that the displacement rate in New York City is between 6.6 and 9.9 percent, and could be significantly higher since people who moved out of New York City or who became homeless or sheltered do not count into that estimate (Neman 51).
Even though displacement might or might not be contextualized in the numbers, they can be in the lives of people. When Greenpoint was rezoned, the city allowed $2 million to mitigate displacement effects. However, the information and affordable housing sign ups given to the poor Polish immigrants whose lives there were given 3 years after rezoning and only lasted for 2 years. Because of this, there were effectively were no barriers to displacement. Rents increased and low-income, working-class, Polish immigrants were displaced. Those who were not displaced, had displacement and gentrification forces applied to them. For example, since landlords wanted richer renters, they would employ scare tactics and artificially raise their rents to move the poorer residents out (Stabrowski 794, 795, 803, 810). One thing that most studies agree on is that policies should move toward mitigating gentrification. If Greenpoint was not rezoned, or if a better mitigating policy was in effect, then this gentrification might not have happened. Policy change and implementation can be a good way to fight off gentrification, however, further studies into policies’ effects and practicalities should be studied to increase the likelihood of success.
The Complicated Link Between Gentrification and Displacement
Does Gentrification Harm the Poor?
The Right to Stay Put, Revisited: Gentrification and Resistance to Displacement in New York City