Restraining Gentrification

Low income and working class families in Newcastle have been increasingly displaced by gentrification policies.  Gentrification is basically the buying and renovating of old property to upscale standards, which often means the displacement of the working class, because generally, the radically increased rents are unaffordable.  Unfortunately, city councils across the nation and in Newcastle, in general, do not insist that only measured increases, for instance, not more than 10% annually, can be put on renters already on the property at the time of sale to the gentrifying real estate barons, or alternatively, a lump sum payment equal to twelve months rent or however many months the renter has lived on the property, whichever is lesser, to those who would be displaced.  This kind of policy would not stop gentrification, which in a modified form may not necessarily be all bad if particular property is very seriously dilapidated, but it would put some needed restraints on gentrification gone awry in America, and keep money in the pockets of the poor, the low-income and the working class.  City councils should do more to restrict and restrain gentrification.

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