Who are the Real 'Gentrifiers'?

Sources/Further Reading:

Information about causes of gentrification

Slater article

Demsas Article 1

Demsas Article 2

[Hippidippimahm]

It is very exhausting to constantly have the onus of systemic and policy issues placed on individuals to fix, especially women. Upper middle class white women aren’t buying up property at the rate corporate landlords are, and never will!

[emily_]

Thanks for bringing up NIMBYism! It's a massive factor in gentrification and pushing out social uses from communities. A friend of mine was working on a new daycare development and one of the neighbours hired a urban planning firm to oppose the application. Why? Because they were so rich they had nannies and didn't want noisy kids near them. It's not always the upper middle class making life difficult for everyone else, its the super wealthy since they tend have the money to throw around.

[drewgoodenfan]

I'm moving to an apartment that's on a street considered "unsafe" in my city. I feel bad that I may be taking a housing opportunity away from an underprivileged person but I remember that I myself could easily become homeless if I miss two days of work. I am the type of person that this housing is for. I don't have money or anyone willing to help me enough to be able to afford any other apartment in my city. I need this housing and I will vote for policies that make more cheap housing available for the growing unhoused population near me.

[jemmagordon]

Landlords should be illegal. They're causing most of the housing shortage by buying all the builings and leaving some vacant to increase prices to tgeir liking

[kristinmason]

I’d be super interested to see your take on this problem on a global scale. Like people from the US moving to countries in South America or Africa and pricing out locals

[KINGBADASS]

Your videos are always reasonable & straightforward in unpacking difficult subjects.

[royaltyblessed]

Good stuff here. People shouldnt blame individuals at all for this systemic issue. But most lf us agree that gentrifiers can be obnoxious sometimes. Ask anyone in Brooklyn

[TomikaKelly]

Systems are definitely a primary issue. Granted individuals play into a system, but the system is still a main issue.

[foxgloved]

I’ve been researching green gentrification recently for a school project, so this is a interesting coincidence :)

[cerumen]

a user called “Ville__” has manually responded to 9 different comments with “who cares” or some variation. What a use of a life

[ScoscobabyOGO]

Honestly, it gets so annoying hearing some black people blame certain types of white people for all of our problems, when most non-terminally online people are just trying to live their lives. I understand the frustration but so many people online have this “ if you’re not with us you’re against us“ mentality. The displaced anger is so unhelpful and makes it harder to build stronger communities.

Edit: I’m posting my reply to someone else because I didn’t explain myself well in the original comment

I just left a short comment and I knew because I didn’t fully explain myself people may take my comment as black people complain too much. My comment was a little bit of my frustration because I love my community and I want better for black people and Americans in general.

At the time I was talking about the small amount of terminally online individuals that use every study and article to make talking points to defend their actions. Every community has these people.

I was just saying the anger they harbor for white people is a little bit misguided ( I should have said your every day white person). For example that one white lady renting an apartment. When the anger should be at the city and anyone involved with making the projects happen. Learn more about them to try and stop more gentrification projects from happening in the future.

[lunekosama]

Gentrification is my friends, the children of immigrants, being forced to leave the only home they have known as their apartment buildings are bought up by developers only to be replaced with expensive townhouses.

It’s watching vacant buildings rot for years behind chain link fences while the homeless swelter in the sun just across the street.

It’s investing your last dollars into an RV because that at least grants you some shelter and mobility only for city council to outlaw them from parking on the street.

It’s NIMBYs opposing the tiniest transitional housing to help the homeless get back on their feet, citing “think of the children”

It’s passing by millions of vacant office space while working and disabled adults live in their cars.

It’s below market rate studios being raffled off like a prize even though rent is still over 2k a month.


It’s commuting for hours and hours in both directions to a job that pays well but costs so much more.

It’s being The Help for the richest tech companies in the world and still barely making enough to live in the same town as them.

The city has the final say on what gets built and where. The developers and landlords hoard property and displace the poor to build shiny new condos. This is all by design, ousting the working class is the point. That is your real enemy.


Sincerely, a Silicon Valley native

[jamieslacks]

Important to note that programs like Housing 4 All are cheaper and more efficient than our current methods of dealing with homelessness (police raids, property value etc.)

[nizi]

Normally I watch you to relax or learn something new, right now I'm watching you as a part of preparation for my Urban Environments geography exam tomorrow :)

[blueturtle]

Robert, please for the love of God, caption your videos.

[I_like_Plants]

I appreciate many of these comments. While I think some weren’t thought provoking. I do think many people opened my mind to the areas of gentrification people don’t really think/talk about. So thank you all!

[larissabrglum]

Thank you for addressing this misogyny in a nuanced way.

[katieb]

First time watcher. This was great and very informative!!! Thank you!!😊

[CanteLizzie]

2:32 This literally happened to me. In high school when I first learned about gentrification I DID think it was a good thing.

[MissAnathemaDevice]

If the apartment blocks they built were actually affordable housing, I don't think I'd mind so much.