Webster’s (yes, I still own a real, paper dictionary) defines as:

the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces earlier usually poorer residents.

This is probably a tricky issue all around the country, but one that is especially big today in New Orleans. Since so many houses are currently uninhabitable, the market for apartments and houses has risen in many areas significantly. This, inevitably, will change the long-term affluence of certain neighborhoods.

So, what’s wrong with gentrification. Nothing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. In fact, it is only good for a community. The opposite of gentrification is the deterioration of a neighborhood; good luck finding people who want their neighborhood’s property value and quality of life to go down. When more affluence is brought to the neighborhood, the houses are renovated, the property values increase, and crime levels generally go down. More (and better) neighborhood stores spring up, which in turn provides more opportunities. The only drawback is that rents go up, so that those who do not own property might be forced out of the neighborhood without any of the advantages that are presented to property owners. Even while I am currently a renter, I think that there is somewhat of a detachment to a neighborhood for renters; it is probably best for the majority of residents to own their house so that there is a bigger attachment and incentive to build a better community.

At the heart of the disagreements with gentrification is poverty versus affluence. Poverty often today is equated with race, and therefore some people will ignorantly paint this movement as racist. There is nothing racist with buying a house, renovating it, and then fostering a safe and friendly community around your house. In fact, there is nothing inherently affluent about that — it’s desirable. Because you have made your neighborhood desirable, others will pay more to live near you.

I would hope that every citizen and every politician would want every neighborhood to be safer and friendlier. Every one should want to and deserve to live in such a neighborhood. The word ‘gentrification’ does not have the most flattering of definitions. Perhaps we should all instead focus on making all of our neighborhoods more ‘desirable’. The fact is that after Katrina, many neighborhoods are currently either gentrifying or languishing.