Is Anti-Growth the Wrong Approach to Fighting Gentrification?
Limiting development has been a powerful tool for anti-gentrification activists, but have these policies had counter-productive effects? January 10, 2021, 11am PST | Diana Ionescu |
In a piece for The Atlantic, Jacob Anbinder challenges the popular thesis that new housing construction in historic neighborhoods causes gentrification, calling the concept misguided and pointing to declining rents during 2020 as proof.
Since the mid-20th century, housing activists and politicians have painted development as broadly detrimental to affordable housing, arguing that this gentrification-industrial complex is a key driver of displacement and rising housing costs. This growth revolt brought together stakeholders from across the political spectrum, pitting wealthy homeowners and low-income renters against developers. For once, nature enthusiasts, architectural historians, homeowners, and rock-ribbed socialists could a