Gentrification – a neighbourhood ‘grey area’?

There is a general consensus that ‘gentrification’ is occurring across the borough, and ‘money’ is obviously one of the drivers of this process. And there is also the interplay of global and local forces at work – perhaps recession or boom on the one hand, and an assertive or otherwise community response on the other.

And then there is the question of whether gentrification is a good or a bad thing. As with most changes, there are costs to the community as well as perceived benefits.

Neighbourhood researchers (and we, ourselves) have discovered that the benefits are meant to include increased council tax revenues (and spending on local services), increased property values (ie less affordable housing), increased ‘social mix’, and improvements to the local environment.

However, the real concern for neighbourhoods should be the costs, caused by the displacement of the most physically vulnerable and economically deprived households, as rent and property prices go up. Research also points to other costs like community strife and landlord harassment.

Making sure that these households are protected from the worst effects of gentrification requires putting safeguards in place.

This means, for example, that council-owned properties should be seen as community assets, and should therefore be protected from being sold off for short-term financial gain. Their value isn’t just economic – it’s social and cultural too. Because there is of course financial capital, but there is also our community capital.

To get the kind of communities we want – for example: affordable for everybody – the paradoxes of gentrification need to be recognised and, as far as possible, addressed. The economic and social forces at work are not such that we can stop gentrification – indeed, many would argue that we shouldn’t want to try to.

But it’s vital to remember that this borough is for everyone, and the safety nets for the economically vulnerable should be put in place. It shouldn’t take a global recession to help us remember this.