Gentrification is “the process in which a neighborhood is transformed from low-value to high-value properties” (“Real Estate Glossary”). The nature of a neighborhood’s housing stock is typically correspondent to the socio-economic status of its inhabitants. A shift in either of these elements—improved housing stock, or an influx of higher-income residents—has the potential to yield an overall effect known as gentrification.

Typically, improved housing stock and the influx of higher-income residents is a subtle, nearly simultaneous process. Some argue that gentrification begins with small groups of individuals who move out of middle-class and upper-middle-class neighborhoods and begin to inhabit the fringes of lower-income neighborhoods for the sake of cheaper rents. As these “small groups” begin to grow in number, a variety of effects are produced, including rising rents and a shift in the nature of the housing stock in order to further attract such individuals. These changes displace the original residents, who are typically of a lower economic status, and shift the dynamic of the neighborhood to cater to the new inhabitants.

A decaying housing stock is one impetus for development in neighborhoods such as East Harlem. Here is one classic example.

Other forms of gentrification can occur as a by-product of the development and revitalization of neighborhoods. Poorer neighborhoods are often riddled with a decaying housing stock, including abandoned or virtually uninhabitable buildings. Efforts to improve the housing stock often result in new housing developments that cater to middle-class and upper-middle class incomes, with rents that the neighborhood’s average inhabitant cannot afford. As a result, older residents are forced out of the area, paving the way for further gentrification.

The above two scenarios are a rather simplistic rendition of the elements involved in this process. The reality is that gentrification is rather complex and often involves an amalgam of political, social, and economic factors. The process itself is also very gradual and therefore difficult to explain by pinpointing merely a few superficial catalysts. Perhaps the best way to understand this process is to assess the role gentrification plays in “our own backyard,” so to speak—in El Barrio itself.

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