TC Gentrification Fundamental Political Dynamic Forces in Modern Cities Discussion

Unformatted Attachment Preview

Development without Displacement RESISTING GENTRIFICATION IN THE BAY AREA Written by Causa Justa :: Just Cause with health impact research and data and policy analysis contributed by the Alameda County Public Health Department, Place Matters Team Acknowledgements This report was written by Causa Justa :: Just Cause (CJJC) with health impact research and data and policy analysis contributed by the Alameda County Public Health Department (ACPHD), Place Matters Team. A special thanks goes out to all the individuals who provided feedback on the draft framework and policy and health analyses, and to those who shared their stories and experiences. Causa Justa :: Just Cause Writers Reviewers and Contributors Dawn Phillips, Co-Director of Programs, Lead Writer Luis Flores, Jr., CJJC Intern & Stronach Fellow, University of California, Berkeley Jamila Henderson, Contracted Project Coordinator Gloria Bruce, East Bay Housing Organizations Dr. Richard Walker, Professor Emeritus of Geography, University of California, Berkeley Will Dominie, Contra Costa Health Services Causa Justa :: Just Cause Contributors and Reviewers Interviewers Robbie Clark, Housing Rights Campaign Lead Organizer, CJJC Maria Zamudio, San Francisco Housing Rights Campaign Organizer, CJJC Gilda Haas, Professor of Urban Planning, Antioch University & Board of Directors, CJJC María Poblet, Executive Director, CJJC Adam Gold, Communications and Admin Director, CJJC Alameda County Public Health Department Contributors Zoë Levitt, Health Impact Assessment Coordinator, ACPHD Lead Alex Desautels, Former Local Policy Manager Matt Beyers, Epidemiologist II Roxanna Guide, Epidemiologist Tram Nguyen, Local Policy Coordinator Katherine Schaff, Health Equity Coordinator Nathan Phillip, Contracted Research Assistant Sonia Aldape, CJJC Volunteer Carmela Zakon, CJJC Volunteer Luis Flores, Jr., CJJC Intern & Stronach Fellow, University of California, Berkeley Jamila Henderson, Contracted Project Coordinator, CJJC Causa Justa :: Just Cause (CJJC): A multiracial, grassroots organization building community leadership to achieve justice for low-income San Francisco and Oakland residents. Alameda County Public Health Department (ACPHD), Place Matters Team: Place Matters is a local partner of the national initiative of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Health Policy Institute (HPI). It is designed to improve the health of participating communities by addressing the social conditions that lead to poor health. The research that provided the basis for this publication was supported by funding under an award to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. TC Gentrification Fundamental Political Dynamic Forces in Modern Cities Discussion

The substance and findings of the work are dedicated to the public. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in this publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the federal government or MTC. For a copy of the specific research findings and the methodology underlying that research, please go to www.cjjc.org/en/ HUDreport. Please send comments and questions to Rose@cjjc.org. Please go to the CJJC website to purchase additional copies www.cjjc.org Contents Foreword………………………………………………………………… 2 Candelario Melendez………………………………………………………2 Dr. Richard Walker…………………………………………………………..3 Executive Summary……………………………………………….. 6 Purpose of the Report…………………………………………………….6 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………..6 Urban Renewal and Displacement: Moving People in the Name of Health…………………….. 40 New Approaches to Healthy Housing and Healthy Development……………………………………….. 48 Organizing Toward a New Vision for Community Development………………………………. 50 Gentrification as a Historic Process……………………………….8 Human Development for Healthy and Sustainable Neighborhoods…………………………….. 50 Health Impacts…………………………………………………………………8 Collective Action Creates Human Development………… 50 Policy Recommendations………………………………………………..9 Gentrification Can Be Prevented………………………………… 51 Introduction………………………………………………………….. 11 What Is Gentrification?………………………………………………… 11 Regional Historical Perspective…………………………………… 13 Redefining Human Development: Organizing Communities…………………………………………. 13 Research Scope & Methodology………………………… 14 Gentrification Typologies Analysis………………………………. 14 The Role of Public Agencies in Promoting Human Development……………………………………………….. 53 Policy Findings & Recommendations………………… 55 Cross-Cutting Recommendations for Policy Effectiveness…………………………………………………. 55 Principles, Policies & Practices for Preventing Displacement: Advancing a Comprehensive Housing Rights Framework………………………………… 59 A. Baseline Protections for Vulnerable Residents………. 60 Global Cities: A Brief Political Economy of the Bay Area…………………………………………………….. 16 B. Production and Preservation of Affordable Housing…………………………………………………………………….. 67 Immigration and Migration to the Bay Area………………………………………………………… 17 C. Stabilization of Existing Communities…………………….. 75 Decades of Race and Class Inequities……………………….. 19 D. Non-Market Based Approaches to Housing and Community Development…………………………………. 80 Gentrification: The Rent Gap in the New Economy………………………………………………… 20 E. Displacement Prevention as a Regional Priority…….. 82 Urban Development Under Neoliberalism…………………… 30 Gentrification is a Public Health Issue………………. 38 The Historic Role of Public Health Departments in Urban Development……………………………………………… 39 F. Planning as a Participatory Process………………………… 85 Taking Action ………………………………………………………. 90 Works Cited………………………………………………………….. 92 Appendix A…………………………………………………………..100 Foreword Candelario Melendez Causa Justa :: Just Cause, Member, and Mission District Resident My name is Candelario Melendez, I am a member of Causa Justa :: Just Cause. I came to this organization back when it was located on Valencia Street in San Francisco. Back then it was called “Comité de Vivienda San Pedro.” I learned there that people would receive help around their housing issues regardless of one’s color, gender, or race, and that the organization asked for nothing in return. It was since then that I joined this organization at the start of 2012, the same year I suffered an accident, and became disabled, and unable to work. TC Gentrification Fundamental Political Dynamic Forces in Modern Cities Discussion

For 21 years I lived in a building in the Mission. In 1991, I was evicted for no fault of my own and without just cause. Based on my own experience and from my work at Causa Justa, I have heard many similar stories like the ones told in this report. The problems for tenants are very severe and we need a strategy that closely studies the situation, with the step-bystep goal of reversing this wave of evictions and harassment that too many are experiencing. In my neighborhood, for example, rents for all apartments are going up every day and forcing more and more people to have to move out of the Mission and even out of San Francisco. Many of the residents we work with cannot 2 | Development Without Displacement afford a whole apartment for their family and they end up living in one room. Even in these cases people pay as much as $800 per month for a small space, which is just too much given the low wages that most of us are making. I know of landlords who increase the rent on tenants over three times, often resorting to harassment to evict tenants illegally. Also, many families do not live in good conditions because landlords do not invest in fixing the apartment. I’ve heard of times when, because of neglect and lack of repairs, families go hungry because they have no kitchen to cook in. Children have no space to study or play, and their health and development are affected. In my opinion, both neighborhood residents and community organizations need to organize broadly so that our community loses our fear and becomes committed to fighting for our right to a just rent and freedom from harassment. It is because I have seen too many people evicted that I am organizing. We cannot allow private capital to change our community. We all need to unite: Latino and Black / African American folks. Together we will lose fear and the politicians will be more likely to listen to us. Together we have to demand that they craft better laws and ensure the implementation of these laws. This report describes some of the important policies that can help deal with the negative effects of gentrification. It is urgent that we push for as many of these as possible. We need to realize our shared strength and vision. We need to take action together. It’s not easy to go up against rich and powerful people, and I hope our report will inspire communities in the Bay Area and around the country to do that. Dr. Richard Walker Professor Emeritus of Geography, University of California, Berkeley To housing and social justice organizers across the United States, gentrification is a scourge. TC Gentrification Fundamental Political Dynamic Forces in Modern Cities Discussion

They have seen the damage done to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of families, and the disruption of schooling, friendships, and habits accompanied by the costs of finding new housing, jobs, support networks, and more. They witness the cruel unfairness of the way the suffering falls so disproportionately on the heads of innocent children, poor parents, and people of color. Against the current tide of displacement, a forceful movement has emerged in defense of housing rights and urban justice, operating under the rubric of “The Right to the City” and bringing together a broad coalition of tenants’ rights, affordable housing, and anti-foreclosure advocates. I had the honor of participating in the founding of the national Right to the City Alliance a decade ago, and I have watched as the groups in the alliance have grown stronger, wiser, and more tenacious in their struggle to protect those being swept from our cities by the blind forces of economic growth and urban redevelopment. Nowhere is the fight for housing justice more acute than in the Bay Area, where San Francisco is widely considered the most gentrified city in the country, and Oakland is not far behind. The region has many valiant organizations working for better housing for the disadvantaged and displaced. Among these groups, Causa Justa :: Just Cause stands out for its work in defense of tenants’ rights and against evictions of all kinds on both sides of the bay. Groups like this have a lot to teach us all about the harsh realities of Bay Area housing that rarely make the pages or broadcasts of the major media outlets and are, therefore, little known to most policymakers in the region. This report gives these groups a chance to speak and for us to learn. So what is this thing called “gentrification?” It has divergent meanings to different people and has long been disputed, even among urban scholars. It is usually heard as a term of approbation against landlords carrying out forcible evictions and new buyers displacing former residents of low-income neighborhoods. Conversely, it is a rallying cry for affordable housing and limits on high-rises and building conversions. But is it more than a political slogan? As this report makes clear, there are cold, hard facts behind the popular terminology. Without some clarity about what is at stake in gentrification, public debate easily bogs down in mutual incomprehension. There are plenty of cheerleaders for the current makeover of the Bay Area who cite the evidence for a high tech boom, rising average incomes, an expanding housing stock, and more. They are quick to dismiss the critics of gentrification. But gentrification is a many-sided phenomenon, so it is essential to unpack its dimensions to see why housing organizers have so much to teach us about the dark side of the shining new urban landscapes going up all around the bay. For one, cities are living things that change over time. They look solid and fixed, but they are shaken up repeatedly by the dynamic forces of capitalism and modernity, their landscapes and ways of life torn apart and reconstructed. The Bay Area is undergoing just such a radical makeover today as new technology companies sprout, new people migrate in, and older activities and jobs disappear. Thanks to Silicon Valley, the region is a global leader in innovation, making change a way of life here. This, then, is the first facet of gentrification: the shock of the new and the loss of the old. The restructuring of the city has knocked the feet out from under old industries, vaporized formerly reliable jobs, and Causa Justa :: Just Cause | 3 left thousands of workers who depended on them out of luck. A second dimension of gentrification is that urban growth drives up land values and the price of housing along with them, mounting up the highest in city centers. In turn, the pressure to maximize rents on precious urban space pushes up the height and density of buildings. The Bay Area has grown rapidly and, along with an outward explosion (all the way into the Central Valley), it has climbed upward. It is now the second densest urbanized area in the country after — surprise — metropolitan Los Angeles and ahead of metro New York. With increased pressure on the inner cities, old buildings are demolished to make way for the new and older neighborhoods are invaded by new investors, developers and residents, putting the squeeze on formerly affordable districts. 4 perverted by inequality and social injustice, which have only gotten worse over the last generation. Inequality comes in many forms, but the ones that matter most in today’s cities are the chasms of class, race, and political power. Critics of gentrification are not simply railing against new technology, new buildings, or new people, nor are they calling for an older and simpler life; they are after something deeper, something that is rending the basic fabric of our cities and democracy.TC Gentrification Fundamental Political Dynamic Forces in Modern Cities Discussion

In addition, the Bay Area has become richer as it has grown. It has reaped the profits of leadership in electronics, medicine, management, and more. The bounteous profits pouring out of tech businesses, the health-medical complex, and financial operations have made this the highest income big city in the United States, per capita, which has only intensified the pressure on housing. This is a third sense of gentrification: the huge amounts of new money chasing housing, especially the limited housing stock of the favored parts of San Francisco, Oakland, and all around the bay. The result of a booming urban region is, in short, that thousands of people have been forced out of formerly affordable housing and communities, from the South of Market to West Oakland, the Mission to Fruitvale, ending up as far away as Brentwood and Stockton. Americans like to imagine that they are all “middle class,” but that is less true than ever, given the gulf that has opened up between the rich and the rest. There really is a 1 percent of the populace who have grabbed almost all the gains in social income over the last 20 years, making the United States the most unequal of all the developed countries. The Bay Area has been a leader in this trend by funneling the vast majority of the newfound wealth from electronics, finance, medicine, and the rest into the pockets of a relatively small elite. The Bay Area today has more millionaires and billionaires per capita than any other big city, even New York, and upper layers of the labor force are also very well paid here. The enrichment of the upper classes is what gives gentrification such force in San Francisco and Oakland. The new companies and new people who come to buy houses and occupy old neighborhoods do so with fistfuls of dollars, outbidding those outside their charmed circle. Ordinary working people, as well as the poor, the aged and the infirm, are all too easily swept aside by the new masters of the urban universe. This is a fourth dimension of gentrification, and it is far crueler than the mere shock of the new and the pressures of the land market. But growth, change, and affluence are not, by themselves, the worst sources of urban displacement — not by a long shot. What rankles housing advocates the most about contemporary urban upheaval is the “gentry” in gentrification. The remaking of our cities is fundamentally If the cresting waves of class-driven gentrification are not bad enough, the undertow of race is always there to drag down thousands more folks. This is another face of gentrification. The sad fact of class in America is that it is raced. Whites are no longer a majority in the cities | Development Without Displacement Auction Action At the Alameda County Court House, Oakland of California, but they hold the overwhelming percentage of the wealth. Housing is regularly considered the measure of the middle class, but access to it is badly skewed by racial inequality. Most of the wealthy and well paid in the Bay Area are White, along with a few Asian Americans. These are the gentrifiers. Meanwhile, most of those being displaced are Black / African American, Latino, Filipino, or other people of color. Not only do they have less income to bid competitively for housing, they are much more likely to be renters, and therefore exposed to eviction. Those who did own houses were disproportionately hit by foreclosures in the meltdown of the subprime housing bubble. Finally, there is the question of control over government and its powers to ameliorate the assault on city neighborhoods. As this report details, there are many reasonable policies at the local and regional levels that can help hold back the tide of gentrification and modify the worst effects of urban transformation. The problem is getting such policies enacted, enforced, and financed. The promise of American democracy lies in the power of popular representation and the assurance of a modicum of fairness imposed on the capitalist free-for-all by government. But the harsh reality is that too often politics fall prey to the same inequities that rule the market, an unpleasant reality that has only grown harsher in the moneyed campaigns and lobbying of the present day. This is the last sense of gentrification — the power of the upper classes to claim the city for themselves without opposition from the common people — and it feels the most unjust of all. Causa Justa :: Just Cause | 5 Executive Summary Purpose of the Report This report contributes to the conversation and understanding of gentrification and displacement from the perspective of a frontline organization working in neighborhoods most impacted by the crisis. We aim to challenge existing definitions and assumptions about gentrification and dis …
Purchase answer to see full attachment