Before we can begin to talk about the issues that gentrification poses, let’s make sure that we’re on the same page right off the bat. According to the brains at Dictionary.com, gentrification is defined as

“the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses”

If this feels a little familiar, your ‘hood might have a gentrification problem – one of the many Catch 22’s of city population surges. You see, even though property values increase (making certain neighborhoods more appealing) these areas lose diversity, especially considering the minorities that contribute to a multicultural urban lifestyle.

Take Austin, Texas for example. Proud weirdos and counter-culturalists. From 2000-2010, ATX saw it’s population increase by 20.4%, the 3rd fastest growing major city of the decade. Even with all that growth, it was the African-American population that was on the decline. The Austin-American Statesman is doing a brilliant job of covering the phenomena that is at it’s heart an economic and political issue.

When cost of living soars because of the influx of wealthy new Austinites, upper-to-middle class families don’t grumble much especially in comparison to the high-cost areas they are coming from: Los Angeles, San Diego, NYC, Chicago, DC.

But for minorities (mostly Blacks and Latinos) who don’t make nearly as much per dollar as their white counterparts, they are literally losing ground. All it takes to understand the severity is a drive around East Austin. Verging on derelict mid-century, one-floor family homes with plenty of life and character spilling out of it’s gates is juxtaposed with brand new, modern studio condominiums or under construction artistically architecture’d  3-level town homes that scream “yuppie” (young upwardly mobile professional). But that’s the issue. There is little economic mobility for minorites in Austin, so they are forced out to subsequently booming suburbs like Pflugerville, Georgetown, and Round Rock.

A perfect case-in-point example is the fate of the historic Rosewood Courts. Built as housing for low-income Black families (“projects”) in the 1930s, the Rosewood Courts (located in, you guessed it – East Austin) is on the verge of being mostly razed and rebuilt. The community is rallying behind the preservation cause with petitions and social media campaigns, but will it be enough to fend off the Housing Authority of the City of Austin who has grant money from U.S. Housing and Development?

The sense of rallying for cultural inclusion in Austin is apparent in the iamblackaustin campaign. This campaign has goals to address Austin’s racial and cultural divides. According to the Statesman, doing so “might produce the greater payoff in terms of economic mobility… these forces are toughest to pin down [but] they’re often the most important to consider because they coincide so closely with many of the other factors that inhibit opportunity.”