Report on displacement from the Urban Institute

In the Face of Gentrification: Case Studies of Local Efforts to Mitigate Displacement, a new report from the Urban Institute, presents strategies used by nonprofits, for-profit developers, and city agencies to ensure that low- to moderate-income residents are able to remain in their homes as neighborhoods gentrify. Citing examples from Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Sacramento, and St. Petersburg, Florida, the report assesses the impact of local housing markets, regional politics, and the organizational capacity of nonprofit groups in mitigating gentrification's worst effects.
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I can't say that this report wows me. For one, I think the use of the word gentrification is powerfully charged and glosses over too much. More accurate would be to refer to a "strong real estate market and strong demand." Interestingly, the report says that the emphasis of programs is on housing production while affordable housing retention and asset-building on the part of lower-income people gets short shrift.

My sense is because that's where money is available, and doing things like community land trusts and creating cooperative housing and building the portfolio of nonprofit-owned housing that stays affordable (like what Jubilee Housing does in DC) is much harder. It would have more impact though.

The issue to me is how to retain housing for people of lesser means, people who are unable at some point, to compete on equal terms within the market, as housing prices and property tax assessments (and therefore property taxes) increase.

Interestingly enough, I haven't read Manuel Castells, but the focus on building workforce housing jibes with his point about planning within capitalism being concerned about "the reproduction of the labor force."

Rather than read the whole report, you can just check out the conclusion, which is about 7 pages.

Also see, "One path to affordable housing: You own the house, but a trust owns the land," from the Christian Science Monitor. From the article:

Own your home, lease the land beneath you. That's the idea behind a community land trust. Across the country a growing number are encouraging affordable housing in urban areas, where surging prices have outpaced moderate incomes.

Nationwide, the number of community land trusts has doubled since 2000 to more than 200, according to the Institute for Community Economics, based in Springfield, Mass., which helps organizations establish these trusts. In 1980, there were fewer than 10.

The trusts lease land to homeowners, who purchase homes on the land. Homeowners pocket some appreciation on their homes when they sell, while the trust maintains ownership of the land. Because it's land values that soar, the homes stay affordable.

Index Keywords: housing