'We Couldn't Get the Big Win' A Situation Analysis of the Stress of Gentrification at Differing Points in the Process

Abstract

This article reports the results of a community-based, participatory action research project comparing Shaw, in Washington, DC, and Orange, NJ, which were at diff erent stages in the process of gentrification. We were specifically interested in sources of stress that may lead to physical and mental illness. Our data show that gentrification, a form of redevelopment in chronically disinvested neighbourhoods, is a drawn-out and high-conflict situation with many inbuilt stressors including: long-term deprivation preceding redevelopment; displacement by gentrification; loss of social bonds; rent burden; improper manoeuvres by landlords; and betrayal by politicians. The process also undermines the sense that society has solidarity with all people. Harmful as these processes are, of even more concern was the increasing financialization of real estate, which is making these experiences more common among communities across much of the socioeconomic spectrum. Community organizing has been a key strategy in this asymmetric con flict, but given the international financialization of housing, additional strategies will be needed.