The Pros And Cons Of Gentrification

Gentrification, when wealthy individuals buy and renovate houses in poor neighborhoods, a word often associated with the displacement of poor residents of run-down urban neighborhoods. Gentrification has its pro’s and con’s, so naturally the supporters list the positives, while non-supporters do the opposite. In “Go Forth and Gentrify?” by Dashka Slater, the author explores the positives of gentrification for the community, newcomers, and longtime residents. Dashka Slater, a journalist who often appears in the New York Times, Sierra, and San Francisco Magazine. Mother Jones, a liberal magazine, published “Go Forth and Gentrify” in July 2007 encouraging home buyers to buy houses in poor urban neighborhoods. During this time housing prices were decreasing and the housing bubble was about to burst. Many families lost their homes to foreclosure and had nowhere to go. As a suggestion, Slater urges readers that it is alright to move into a poor neighborhood because the home buyer will positively impact the neighborhood.
Slater reminds readers that poor neighborhoods were once thriving but when the white middle class left the city for the suburbs the neighborhoods became impoverished. She includes the fact that though gentrification does have its downsides, the newcomers often bring money and jobs to poverty stricken neighborhoods. The neighborhoods also improve once gentrified, the author uses an example of her own neighborhood. She explains how the neighborhood’s property value tripled and how better businesses moved into the neighborhood. In the article she urges readers to move into poor urban neighborhoods and gentrify. To conclude her article she includes testimonial-like stories of gentrifiers and their contributions to their