Jump to content

Gentrification: The Houston Change


Luminare

Recommended Posts

A very good article in ArchDaily today about Gentrification in cities and presenting both extremes and vastly different contexts. It gives a fresh perspective that doesn't play the tiring good vs. evil card. It instead looks at how these people are coming into a city...as immigrants. I was intrigued by how we really only see people that are poor as being immigrants while those with any kind of money are seen as aliens. I think it's a refreshing take.

 

The obvious places in Houston are...well everywhere lol. Mostly notably Montrose, Midtown, Downtown, The Heights, and it's slowly creeping into the East End.

 

Here is the link:

 

http://www.archdaily.com/540712/what-gentrification-really-is-and-how-we-can-avoid-it/

 

What do y'all think about this? Looking for any opinions, but please try to keep it clean from mud slinging and good v. evil stuff. Gentrification is a much more complicated thing than some people try to make it out to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gentrification, like immigration, can be boiled down to "people moving around". Like Montrose, some of the "die yuppie/techie scum" sentiment is from people who were once gentrifiers themselves. Montrose and Haight-Ashbury are big examples of such movements.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My thought on this topic has always been simple logic:

  • if a neighborhood can stay the same, get better, or get worse
  • and getting better = gentrification = bad = we enact policies to stop it
  • so neighborhoods can only stay the same or get worse
  • then how does a city do anything other than decline over time?...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My thought on this topic has always been simple logic:

  • if a neighborhood can stay the same, get better, or get worse
  • and getting better = gentrification = bad = we enact policies to stop it
  • so neighborhoods can only stay the same or get worse
  • then how does a city do anything other than decline over time?...

Trying to enact policies to stop gentrification is like trying to stop sprawl: you "solve" problems by creating bigger ones. Best course of action is to let things take their course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

My thought on this topic has always been simple logic:

  • if a neighborhood can stay the same, get better, or get worse
  • and getting better = gentrification = bad = we enact policies to stop it
  • so neighborhoods can only stay the same or get worse
  • then how does a city do anything other than decline over time?...

 

 

As a practical matter, I don't think there are many cases where gentrification is stopped cold in it's tracks.  Most of the time the policies enacted to slow it down just cause costs to go up as developers and remodelers have to navigate another set of regulations beyond the typical building codes and that costs time and money.  Since the demand that drives gentrification is still there, you get slowed down release of inventory while demand remains or increases.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hate the term gentrification. 

 

Nothing in life is static. People shift, demographics shift, such has been occurring forever, it will continue to occur forever.

 

The class/race/whatever hatred that is bred by this kind of shift is deplorable. Hopefully at some point in the future society will have moved on from this kind of stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there any connection between gentrification and increased (or decreased) inequality?

 

Not necessarily.  I was a gentrifier at one time, and I suppose I am now a gentrify-ee since there is no way I'd willingly spend as much money as it would take to buy my house these days (even though it would likely have some sort of claim in the HAR listing that it's at lot value).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
10 hours ago, Memorial/Gessner said:

Has anyone else noticed the steep rise in gentrification taking place in suburban areas for the last decade or so? What do you think is an effective and plausible solution to this epidemic of rising affluence and real estate prices?

 

Do you mean urban? I don't think the suburbs have experienced any significant increase in gentrification.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/1/2016 at 10:54 AM, Memorial/Gessner said:

Has anyone else noticed the steep rise in gentrification taking place in suburban areas for the last decade or so? What do you think is an effective and plausible solution to this epidemic of rising affluence and real estate prices?

 

Elect Sheila Jackson Lee as President?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, HNathoo said:

 

Do you mean urban? I don't think the suburbs have experienced any significant increase in gentrification.

yes, I'm not referring to large planned housing projects like those seen in Katy or Missouri City. However, what have before been considered suburban neighborhoods are now home to lots with prices not lower and often much higher than $1,000,000.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, BeerNut said:

So you're against property values rising not gentrification.   The land there probably has minimum lot sizes and other deed restrictions so values will probably continue to rise.

 

Both, I suppose I should've worded my question better. I choose to focus on gentrification though, as it is a much more pressing issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Memorial/Gessner said:

yes, I'm not referring to large planned housing projects like those seen in Katy or Missouri City. However, what have before been considered suburban neighborhoods are now home to lots with prices not lower and often much higher than $1,000,000.

 

Most of what were originally suburban neighborhoods, like the area around Memorial and Gessner, never went through a down phase like the older neighborhoods inside the loop so gentrification isn't really a problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, august948 said:

 

Most of what were originally suburban neighborhoods, like the area around Memorial and Gessner, never went through a down phase like the older neighborhoods inside the loop so gentrification isn't really a problem.

right, gentrification doesn't apply there. However, the rising prices are kicking out middle class families, only leaving room for the super-rich. Its a separate yet related issue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/1/2016 at 10:54 AM, Memorial/Gessner said:

Has anyone else noticed the steep rise in gentrification taking place in suburban areas for the last decade or so? What do you think is an effective and plausible solution to this epidemic of rising affluence and real estate prices?

I am not sure that I have ever heard "rising affluence" related to an "epidemic."

 

may I ask you if the folks who, in 1980, purchased the homes in the area you mention consider this an "epidemic"?  They don't like the wealth that they have created for themselves?  After all, an epidemic is bad for everyone, no?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel like gentrification is usually bad problem in areas where most residents rent their homes, while in areas where they own them it is a good problem.  In renter areas, the residents are getting squeezed out with no real compensation to them, while in owner areas they may be getting squeezed out but they also sold their bungalow for $400,000 so they should be able to land on their feet

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/2/2016 at 6:37 PM, UtterlyUrban said:

I am not sure that I have ever heard "rising affluence" related to an "epidemic."

 

may I ask you if the folks who, in 1980, purchased the homes in the area you mention consider this an "epidemic"?  They don't like the wealth that they have created for themselves?  After all, an epidemic is bad for everyone, no?

 

 

It depends on your vantage point. The people you speak of don't see a problem. The people Memorial are referring to......do.

 

Other cities should have this issue......where people seem to be getting richer. Or at the very least, their property values are going up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/1/2016 at 8:54 AM, Memorial/Gessner said:

Has anyone else noticed the steep rise in gentrification taking place in suburban areas for the last decade or so? What do you think is an effective and plausible solution to this epidemic of rising affluence and real estate prices?

 

Tell people to quit getting richer?  Relocate criminals to the suburbs?

 

If rising real estate prices in one area are not the sole reason for lowered real estate prices in others, I'm not seeing a problem here.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ricardo said:

It depends on your vantage point. The people you speak of don't see a problem. The people Memorial are referring to......do.

 

Other cities should have this issue......where people seem to be getting richer. Or at the very least, their property values are going up.

Who are the people Memorial is referring to?  He is discussing "suburban gentrification".   Suburban areas are dominated by single family home owners (not renters).  I assume from the user ID that "Memorial" is speaking of the area generally referred to as "Memorial".   So, 40 years ago, somebody purchased a house for, what? $70k? and its worth $1.5m today.  Since the long-term average housing prices inflates at slightly above CPI,  I have a hard time understanding why anyone is upset.  Can't afford the taxes?  Sell the darn thing, PAY ZERO CAPITAL GAINS, and move to another place 4 miles away that isn't as hot but costs 50% less.  You'll have monetized $750k.

 

anything else is simply whining, IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got the impression that Memorial was upset that some people got lucky. The people who bought homes in areas where the property values increased over the years and not decreased.

 

The post seemed more like a rant against rich people than anything else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

Interesting piece from the Texas Observer on the potential for gentrification accelerating in Houston as a byproduct of the Trump tax cuts, which contain a $1.5 billion tax break for real estate investors in economically-disadvantaged areas defined as "opportunity zones": 

 

https://www.texasobserver.org/trumped-up-incentives-houston-gentrification/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

Interesting piece from the Texas Observer on the potential for gentrification accelerating in Houston as a byproduct of the Trump tax cuts, which contain a $1.5 billion tax break for real estate investors in economically-disadvantaged areas defined as "opportunity zones": 

 

https://www.texasobserver.org/trumped-up-incentives-houston-gentrification/

I'm leery of the term "economically-disadvantaged areas", which seems to imply that these areas are slums, and a form of urban blight that must be eliminated.
The areas where the "economically-disadvantaged" live include neighborhoods that were developed before WW II, a time when one (or no) car households were common. They were designed with the understanding that sidewalks and public transportation were necessities.
Contrast this with the areas into which the poor are now being scattered, which were designed specifically for the automobile. Too often these neighborhoods and the people who occupy them are cut off from access to grocery stores, parks, clinics, libraries, etc. because car ownership is out of reach. 
Of course, it comes down to economics. Many people are wary about investing in poorer areas. Development can (and should) involve an element of risk. The movement of people into inner city neighborhoods is a well-established trend that needs no outside encouragement. The resulting uprooting and relocation of thousands of families is certain to create more problems than it solves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...