Introduction
Gentrification refers to the process in a social setting where by the wealthier people buy properties especially residential properties from the poor category of people. This forms a social cultural situation and a new set up is created when both groups benefit directly or indirectly from the acquisition of property of wealthier people from the less fortunate community in the society. The consequent repercussions of gentrification witnesses’ decrease of average family set up and sizes community with a proportionate increase of average family’s incomes. This trend in most cases results to economic eviction of low income group of people since the living standards have drastically increased due to acquisition of residential and housing property by the rich (Atkinson 2000).
When the average group acquires these essential services, the poor are displaced due to high prices of housing, increases in rent and other related property taxes that are associated housing industry. When this process continues for a long period of time, the industrial land and space in community is greatly reduced since land is converted for development into housing and commercial uses. Besides these developments in a community, new ventures, catering and commercial business premises are set up to cater for the average and above category people in the society. This trend concentrates all the resource accessibility to the wealthy class of people denying the less unfortunate and wealth natives in the community an opportunity to use these resources. Mostly gentrification is associated with the urban set up and oftenly referred to as Urban gentrification. This phenomenon results to a change and a move from a culture mostly characterized by heterogonous population and activities towards a more and economically oriented community inclined to homogenous characteristics that are associated with a suburban attributes (Atkinson 2004).
The whole of these processes receives a boost when the government engages in provision of loan facilities, mortgage services and other financial incentives especially to the owners of low class housing to improve and acquire new status desired by the government. Through this engagement, the government increases its tax revenues from increased property values as well as housing prices. When housing development action plans are implemented, the standards of living are improved; the government benefits from increased tax revenues besides reducing the property crimes in a community. When gentrification occurs, economic eviction occurs which is accompanied by political actions which are either directed to oppose or support the process as a response of the communities’ reactions to these economic evictions. Residents who initially occupied their premises before the gentrification process are forced to abandon their residences and premises while they prefer cheaper places due to increased property taxes which results from increase in property values and the initial occupants are unable to pay the increased house rents and taxes (Allen 2008).
Social displacement on the other hand represent the act of been forced to change the known and existing lifestyle that a group in a community is used to. Mostly social displacement occurs when there is a disparity in the economic growth between regions, communities or even groups within the same community. The average and rich segments dictates the trends to be followed through utilization of their economic strength to shape the economic and political trends in the specific region they invest. This not only determines the economic status of all the stakeholders involved but also alters the social settings within the concerned community. For instance, gentrification is mostly an economic problem which consequently results to social displacement of a certain group of people in the society because of the set standards and other related factors (Altshuler 1999).
Gentrification is closely associated with some sociological theories from the production and consumption point of views. Consumption side theory and production side theory explains gentrification as occurrence due to suburban gentry presence originating from an automobile reliance urban factors. This occurs when the fresh college and university students perceives towns especially the big urban centers as better and easier to secure an employment opportunities. Social displacement explained by the production theory of gentrification perceives these factors as the economic causes of social displacement. When capital investments are in fluctuating state, production of urban environment is greatly affected especially the space available for practices by the less wealthy in the community. This trend of many people migrating to urban centers offered an excellent opportunity for development of rural areas since all the capital was channeled back to the rural areas by the individuals in quench to search for employment in the urban areas (Detr 2000).
This left development of low rental properties at the periphery of these major urban centers since the massive investment is channeled towards development of rural areas. The deteriorating situation especially for housing of in the urban center forces people to abandon its development and concentrate in developing the suburbs in rural property investments. This trend witnesses a great devaluation of intercity housing properties making them unattractiveness as compared to the rural suburb areas and property investments resulting to low prices of inter – city land as opposed to rural space and land for investment in housing properties. Therefore, they exist a rent gap between the present and future value of land or ground rent with the potential land rent of the future predictions. The rent gap therefore forms a fundamental explanation of the social displacement of gentrification process as an economic propelled phenomenon (Allen 2007).
Sufficient gap that is wide enough between the present and potential values of ground rent acts as an incentive to land developers, landlords, government and other people with vested interests to perceive the trend as an opportunity to reinvest in the abandoned city ground space meant for new tenants. Such kind of a move gradually closes the rent gap originally in existence through development of new housing facilities and properties. This increases rent charges and leases associated with the new development now meant and only affordable new tenants and not the original tenants who are low income earners and tenants. Economic gantrifiers supported by legislations results to urban and inner city gentrification boosted by residential laws that favors average and wealth class of people displacing the low and poor class of people forcing them to move into rather undesirable housing and buildings since they cannot afford the high costs and the associated higher charges on good housing in the city (Musterd. and Andersson 2005).
Gentrification is therefore widely viewed as sociological trend that reverses the phenomenon of white flight that was experienced when urban places were abandoned for relatively attractive rural housing to culturally fertile ground in the city set up. This is advanced by the professionals who work on white collar employment opportunities who prefer to live near their working stations. This scenario is mostly associated with the economic transition from manufacturing towards adoption of post – industrial economies that concentrate on provision of services as opposed to actual physical and tangible goods. Increased tax revenues associated with gentrification increased property value is a positive economic boost especially occurring in cities making residential properties more attractive to professional and average income group of people displacing low income residents (Allen 2008).