Scholars across disciplines such as sociology, economics, and urban planning are writing about gentrification. The literature and beliefs surrounding gentrification are very diverse, but what often connects the various views is a negative perception that gentrification always disadvantages and displaces low-income minority residents, physically or culturally. But the connotations of race and class associated with gentrification in the minds of many do not align with the empirical research and scholarly findings. Thus far in law, there is no thick legal account of gentrification and its legal or policy implications. Much of the legal writing is predicated upon an inaccurate conception of what gentrification is, as opposed to exploring the assumptions upon which the conception is based.
This Article argues that gentrification of low-income, segregated neighborhoods holds an untapped integrative potential. This potential remains untapped because of an undue coupling of the concepts of gentrification and displacement. According to this coupling, gentrification cannot exist without, nor can it be disassociated from, displacement of low-income and minority people. To the contrary, gentrification, in tandem with other affordable housing mechanisms, holds untapped potential to make real inroads into dismantling our segregated housing patterns.
This Article offers a different approach to understanding and contextualizing gentrification. Its central contributions are twofold. It examines the widespread beliefs that form modern misperceptions about gentrification. This Article also explains how legal interventions at all levels of government can help facilitate the Fair Housing Act’s (FHA) goals of equal access and integration in housing. Once examined, the core issues emanating contemporary and historic animosity towards gentrification reveal themselves. Once this occurs, it becomes evident that gentrification can be part of an approach to redressing socioeconomic segregation.
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