Echo Park one of the first L.A. Suburbs, latinos businesses and families being pushed out by the high rates of rents. “People here seem to believe that because they are angry they don’t have to be civil,” said Christine Peters, who runs an animal rescue group at her home. “… From my perspective, we’ve lost a sense of community.”
June 27, 2008
“Gentrification divides Echo Park community in Los Angeles”
Posted by arizbe under Housing, Politics | Tags: Gentrification, Housing |Leave a Comment
June 4, 2008
Prop. 98 Fails!
Posted by shawnsebastian under Housing, News | Tags: Affordable Housing, Community Benefits, Gentrification, Proposition 98, Rent Control, Tenant's Rights |Leave a Comment
In a landslide victory for renters throughout California, Proposition 98 — a measure that would end rent control in the state — failed.
This is a great victory for every renter in California, but particularly for low-income families threatened by gentrification. In high demand areas (like our neighborhood, the Figueroa Corridor) the market seems to drive prices higher and higher relentlessly so it becomes clear that affordable housing will completely disappear unless it is explicitly provided for. According to a member of the LA Department of Planning, the City, County, and State don’t have the funds to provide for affordable housing. That leaves the federal government (and no one is holding their breath waiting for that to happen).
So how do we provide for affordable housing? One way is by making the big developers who want to put high rise luxury apartments in our neighborhood provide affordable housing set-asides for our families so they aren’t displaced (See Gilda Haas’s article, “Community Benefits or Community Control” at the Making Sense Blog for an excellent analysis of this tactic that puts it in its proper context). Prop. 98 would have made rent control illegal AND it would have made affordable housing set-asides illegal.
But since 98 failed, we still have a powerful tool to preserve affordable housing.
Thanks to every voter that made this victory possible!
“Prop. 99 Passes; Prop. 98 Defeated” in the LA Times
May 19, 2008
On a lighter note …
Posted by esperanzacommunityhousing under Housing, Politics | Tags: Gentrification, Humor |Leave a Comment
The Onion (a publication not intended for readers under 18 ) has had some funny articles on gentrification:
“Sometimes I Feel Like I’m The Only One Trying To Gentrify This Neighborhood” is an article written from the point of view of someone who has recently moved into an ethnic community and who wants to attract people of his own demographic to the neighborhood — by rendering it completely unrecognizable.
and
Report: Nation’s Gentrified Neighborhoods Threatened By Aristocratization is a great re-imagining of the classic narrative of upper-middle class populations entering a low-income area. It describes a situation where the incredibly rich (like 18th-century-dukes-and-duchesses-rich) move into already gentrified neighborhoods.