Equity Matters
Disorder often reflects a lack of investment in the community. On the other hand, investing in the community sometimes leads to gentrification. Gentrification is when wealth moves into a poor neighborhood, changing its makeup. The people who used to live in the neighborhood can be left out of its economic growth. Then they move to less expensive neighborhoods, with less investment. Gentrification most affects people who are poor, Black, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Native Alaskan, or have other marginalized identities.
For example, a 2020 study found that Boston is the third most gentrified city in the nation. In Boston neighborhoods such as Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, and Roxbury, average housing values and incomes rose sharply within just a few years. The new housing emphasized the needs of affluent people moving in. It
didn’t focus on the needs of previous residents. Eviction rates rose, and racial diversity declined. Investment in a community’s built environment should be coupled with efforts to support the existing population. Examples include programs and policies designed to:
- Help people repair and stay in their homes (MassSave, energy subsidies, zero interest loans, etc.).
- Ease zoning restrictions to increase housing construction or combined housing-commercial projects. Dorchester’s Four Corners is an example.
- Control rent prices.
- Keep neighborhoods affordable in other ways.
Investment does not need to benefit only luxury home developers. Public policies and loans can also (or instead) support low- and middle-income homeowners and small landlords.