Editing Gentrification (section)

== Displacement and Resistance ==

Gentrification's critics focus on displacement of longtime residents who cannot afford rising rents and property taxes. As neighborhoods become fashionable, landlords raise rents or sell to developers; homeowners face property tax increases that exceed their ability to pay. The working-class families, elderly residents, and minority communities who built neighborhood cultures find themselves priced out. Displacement breaks community bonds, separates people from churches and social networks, and erases the cultural distinctiveness that made neighborhoods attractive in the first place. The residents who suffered through decades of disinvestment do not benefit from the revitalization that follows.<ref name="lees">{{cite book |last=Lees |first=Loretta |last2=Slater |first2=Tom |last3=Wyly |first3=Elvin |title=Gentrification |year=2008 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York}}</ref>

Community organizations have organized to resist displacement. Land trusts acquire properties to maintain affordable housing. Community development corporations build affordable units. Advocacy groups press for policies to protect tenants and limit tax increases on longtime homeowners. The Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities and other organizations have challenged development projects and advocated for anti-displacement policies. These efforts have achieved some successes—inclusionary zoning requirements, funding for affordable housing—but have not stopped gentrification's advance. The forces driving gentrification—capital seeking returns, young professionals seeking housing, cities seeking tax revenue—are powerful and persistent.<ref name="kromer"/>