Gentrification With Justice

The area I live in (downtown Santa Ana, CA) is embarking on a Specific Plan for the downtown area. Last week, the consultants to the city conducted a weeklong "Design Charrette" down here. They solicited input from citizens and interested groups, conducted seminars and at the end of the week, presented their preliminary recommendations. It was an extremely interesting process to watch.

Many urban cores in the past 50 years have experienced the injustice of gentrification. As upper-income folks move back to an area of the city, land values, retail prices and rents begin to skyrocket. The end result; people with limited financial means are forced to leave, some of them residents of that area for generations.

Now, even more people are beginning to return to the city. This presents challenges. Bob Lupton, in his book "Renewing the City," is an advocate for "gentrification with justice." Lupton writes, "We need gentry who will use their compentencies and connections to ensure that their lower-income neighbors have a stake in their revitalizing neighborhood." Innovative housing policies, tax ordinances that offer relief to residents who own homes, loan funds that give down-payment assistance all are strategies that can ensure that the poor share in the benefits of urban redevelopment.