Gentrification: The Natural Development of a City Outweighing the Cost

Over the course of the last 20 years, the identity of downtown Cincinnati has seen rapid change. With the restoration of neighborhoods, to more income coming in, lower income residents are being squeezed out of certain areas due to rising housing costs.

Gentrification is the improvement of the neighborhood which often raises the property value of the area but often kicks out the former residents because of the increased property tax of the area. Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. Because it tends to change the identity of neighborhoods, it is a common and controversial topic in politics and urban planning.

Gentrification often increases the economic value of a neighborhood, but the resulting demographic displacement may itself become a major social issue. Gentrification often shifts a neighborhood's racial/ethnic layout and average household income by developing new, more expensive housing and businesses in a gentrified architectural style and extending and improving resources that had not been previously accessible.

Run down building in Over the Rhine

Taken from MTM Cincinnati

Gentrification is a natural development and necessary to the growth of the city of Cincinnati, assuming the city can take care of the lower-income population. Gentrification of OTR and the West End has caused massive income to come back into the city. This has lead to more improvements to Cincinnati.

OTR and its classic architecture are often used by movies to depict New York like in the blockbuster movie The Avengers shot in 2012. When my dad grew up in Cincinnati, these are the areas you would not step in even during the middle of the day in fear of getting mugged or shot. You just didn’t visit that part of town if you could help it.

People have an issue with this because lower-income residents want to be part of the process, rather than cast aside or just ushered from neighborhood to neighborhood. We need to solve income inequality, employment, and crime. My opinion on this particular argument is that by the gentrifying of the neighborhoods, the increased income tax and other taxes on the property will increase the district’s tax dollars. More tax dollars means more money that could be put to improving education, which aids in repairing the rest of the issues like crime or income inequality. Education is the key, and it’s funded through tax dollars.

An example of this is seen when FC Cincinnati built a soccer stadium in the west end. Sharon Coolidge of The Cincinnati Enquirer talks on this issue: “Just like Orlando’s MLS team, FC Cincinnati is building its stadium close to downtown in a poor, historically black neighborhood that’s suffered decades of neglect and is now undergoing gentrification.” Current West End residents fear that FCC and their changes to the neighborhood will erase history and not pay its fair share back into the community which will damage the schools in the area.

According to The University of Cincinnati College of Law, local and national and local experts gathered at the Taft Law Center Downtown for a roundtable discussion to explore those housing concerns and to identify new approaches. “Gentrification and affordable housing are not necessarily incompatible,” College of Law Dean Verna Williams said at the start of the discussion. “We are here with an eye toward generating ideas to move us forward.”

FC Cincinnati stadium in the West End of Cincinnati

Taken from the Fox 19 website

Some may say that the issue with gentrification is the pushing out of the former residents. Gentrification leads them to leave the city and move to other neighborhoods. While the rich benefit, the poor and middle class suffer a loss with the increase of public housing with gentrification. It is the only way to keep both sides happy. According to Publichousing.com, there are over 110 apartment complexes that offer low-income housing.

People fear the econocide of the community, but gentrification leads to the development of our communities downtown should still take precedent as long if affordable housing is available to those people.