Social Effects Of Gentrification

A culturally diverse and vibrant city called Oakland has recently become a new social hub, the new place to be. The rapid effects of gentrification has specially been observed in these ways; due to the increase of housing prices, long term and native residents of Oakland have been priced out of their own homes. There has been a lack of cultural authenticity, truly leading to a feeling of uncertainty for the future shared among the community. Coming about this paper there were many moments where I found myself questioning my own argument, just for the mere fact that there are some undeniable upsides to gentrification. To start of what is an acceptable definition of gentrification since there are many, we begin with a basic a google definition,

Has gentrification heightened the institutionalized racism? Has it changed the feel of the place, losing what originally made it authentic? Gentrification has displayed its effects in Oakland in these noticeable ways, the displacement occurring has caused an uproar to Oakland natives. One of the known effects that come along with gentrification is the displacement for those who grew up here. Due to the housing crisis of 2008, many of the houses in Oakland were foreclosed and lost value, causing many investors to purchase them at a lower prices than they were previously bought due to the bank wanting to get the houses out of their hands. After this they’re remodeled. placed back onto the market but with an increased value. With the prices of housing skyrocketing within the last couple of years many of the long term and native residents were priced out of their homes. The phenome happened very quickly, and if you were not in tune with the housing market then it would of been hard to predict the change that came about. The Oakland housing market overview done by the Zillow Group has shown that since 2012 the median price of a home increased up to 400,000$. During the last 5 years the housing market has displayed what appears to look like an exponential growth curve. Data provided by the Zillow Group also displayed the median rent for Oakland within the same timespan as the one for home value. In May 2011 the median rent for a home in Oakland was 1,610$ per month, and it has increased to 2,776”(xxxzillow). Adjusting the search now for the median rent for a 2 bedroom apartment, in “May 2011 the median rent was 1,610$ and it has increased to 2,782$”(xxxzillow). It is interesting to note that Oakland’s real estate already was above the national average, yet nonetheless the value of homes in Oakland has became alarmingly