What Does Gentrification Look Like in an Overwhelmingly White City?

Can we have a little more detail about how residents are being "pushed out" and "robbed" of their homes? This is very powerful language but not a single example of how this is happening is provided. Are established residents cashing out? Are landlords raising rents and behaving badly? Details, please.

I don’t think I’ve seen a comma followed by a colon before. I will have to research this. I would have thought a colon alone would have sufficed in this instance.

Gentrification is not just about race — it is actually racist to portray it as such.

Houses in North Portland could be bought for as little as $15,000 and a nice one for $45,000 in the 1990's. Nothing keeping folks who was there from buying.

Surely, gentrification in the whitest large city in USA is a real phenomena. Some of it is race, no doubt. The underpinnings of displacement must contain racial elements, but in the end, I believe it is largely driven by money. Dollar is king, it appears. However, I can also say that gentrification is a much wider phenomena in Portland, affecting every color and race. I am a luthier, small artisanal shop making classical and flamenco guitars, close to the core of the city. Over the past few years, on more than few occasions, I had to scramble, looking for a new affordable shop space for my guitar business. Why? In short: affordability. Because real estate development from well connected, well funded operations a powerful force. This force converts buildings and entire neighborhoods into the "next thing". Because artists, artisans, musicians, and countless other small enterprises, black or white, are too small to count in the path of this powerful wave. Our economic muscle is too weak, at least on an individual level. We cannot compete, and are not given any collective bargaining rights. To my black brothers and sisters, to musicians and artists, let us remember this: Our value within society is so much more than our bank accounts balances. I hope the city of Portland continues to work on figuring out solutions for retaining our (however meager) racial diversity. Portland needs color. We need our creative and working class. If we lose them, it will be a loss for us all.

I have worked for almost 25 years in North Portland in a zip code, 97227, that has one of the highest housing appreciation rates in the nation. 20 years ago the neighborhood was decrepit. Because of a shortage of housing and its proximity to downtown Portland, the area has flourished with nicer shops, stores, and upscale apartments. These replaced vacant fields and run down store fronts. This is not aimed at minorities; it is an inevitable result of the supply and demand for high quality, close-in housing. The suburb of Beaverton, with its lower housing prices, is the most diverse city in Oregon, and has a large Hispanic population. Again, displacement of lower income people is not aimed at minorities, but is a result of the high housing costs. The larger issue is the Portland metro area's restrictive land use policies which have the unintended effect of creating the high housing costs which displace people at the lower end of the income ladder.

I have owned a home in Portland for 25 years. I bought it at a time when ordinary people could afford to buy a house. The problem is that African-Americans did not have the same opportunity to buy a home that I did because of systemic efforts to prevent them from doing so. It is an outrage and I am not sure how to resolve it. But the development that is running rampant through Portland at the moment is not the answer. The long-time residents who are being pushed out cannot afford to buy or rent condos or apartments in the buildings that are popping up everywhere. A big reason is that these so-called affordable units are not being designed to accommodate the families that are being displaced. Many also offer no parking, I guess, because developers have managed to convince city officials that Portlanders don't own cars. City government has ignored its own building plan and now seems to approve any project that offers a certain percentage of "affordable" units. Obviously, no one has a right to block development but it is reasonable to expect city officials to be sensitive to how their decisions are radically altering neighborhoods.

People live where they can afford to live, it’s that simple. Think of this way. The housing isn’t too expensive, you just need to earn more. See?

If Mr. Nagaoka is trying to draw a parallel between residential development and the impact on communities of color, these particular photographic selections are not conveying that. Portland has been in development mode since the mid-seventies, when city officials began to restore a severely depleted downtown core, the effect of a dismal economy in the late 60s. As downtown stabilized, city officials became convinced that density was the key to vibrant neighborhoods. Land was reclaimed from industry, and the area known as the Pearl was born, situated on a large parcel that the railroads gave up after a 100-year lease. Artists moved to the area, setting up shops and studios in old warehouses, but eventually were priced out as the public became enamored of the area and developers did what developers do, both good and bad. Many charming old offices and shops were lost, replaced by 13-floor, multi-unit dwellings. This growth has continued, eventually finding it's way to a number of time-honored neighborhoods, including areas populated deeply by African-Americans. It's a bit of a false equivalence for Mr. Nagaoka, or at least the reporter, to claim gentrification of a racial cast. Indeed, one of Portland's oldest "gentrified" neighborhoods, Irvington, on the Historic Register, is being impacted as developers bag for-sale homes to raze and replace with multi-unit homes. To me, it's less of a racial thing than poor decisions at the planning level. Those decisions impact us all.

Portland and Oregon as a whole have a long history of overt and persistent systemic racism. The 2016 Atlantic article (linked in the article and again below) provides necessary context for the conversation unfolding in these comments. It defies the notion that the phenomenon Nagaoka is documenting is simply a matter of the free market (the US has a mixed economy), "normal" economic change or "natural" displacement. Gentrification in Portland and elsewhere does not happen in a vacuum. Public policies set the parameters for development, creating the conditions for what development will happen, how, and at what cost or advantage to whom. Their effects in Portland are clearly insidious and prolonged, despite the city's liberal/progressive veneer. Ignoring history's effect on present situations is an act of willful self-deception and an abandonment of civic and moral responsibility.  https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/racist-history-port...

My city makes me sad now. Nobody is safe except those who were lucky enough to have property before the spike in housing costs. There are no major new employers, the city has simply given up trying to control growth. Controlled growth used to be why Portland was so amazing. The median income does not fit in this city anymore and that makes no sense.

I am concerned about this article's erasure of Asian Americans and others. According to wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Portland,_Oregon) "The 2010 census reported the city as 76.1% White (444,254 people), 7.1% Asian (41,448), 6.3% Black or African American (36,778), 1.0% Native American (5,838), 0.5% Pacific Islander (2,919), 4.7% belonging to two or more racial groups (24,437) and 5.0% from other races (28,987). 9.4% were Hispanic or Latino, of any race (54,840). Whites not of Hispanic origin made up 72.2% of the total population."

I have only been here 10 years and I moved to NE Portland to be in as a diverse of a community as I could in Portland. I am a mixed Latina and I moved here for the weather, the food scene, the gardening and the people I had met while visiting. I have absolutely tried to stay positive through the changes but the gross level of building and demolishing and edging out of people in Portland has really changed my experience. I know the change means growth for a city that has wanted to flourish for a long time but it feels raw, harsh and irresponsible. The zoning and building codes, the developers and the land grabbers have exploited every opportunity. Small homes have been demolished and multilevel condos or apartments are erected. Light has been lost in all areas of the city which impacts well being in a city already challenged by lack of sun, trees have been chopped down, bodegas have closed down and expensive shops open, quirkiness is lost, art is lost and people no longer come here to embrace Portland culture. They come and assert their culture. When I moved here you could hear the choirs on Sunday ring out through my neighborhood. Preachers would preach in Alberta Park. All of that seems to have dimmed. I thought I would live here for the rest of my life but I’ve realized that is not likely. It has created a disdain for the dominant paradigm that exerts a force they don’t even sometimes know they are privileged to have.

Gentrification is the process by which older decrepit properties are replaced by better ones, attracting individuals and families who can afford them. Those who aren't in a position to live in the improved properties are naturally displaced and will have to look for housing elsewhere. Should the state ban this practice, allowing deteriorating housing to blight the neighborhood, or provide subsidies to those who are the "victims" of economic development, thus excluding renters or buyers who are able to afford the market price? In a free market economy, the answer is clear: the losers will have to find other living arrangements since there is no vested right to live in a particular neighborhood or city.

The NYTimes has a weird obsession with Portland (the frequent Travel features, the restaurant reviews), and this article has a colonialist, voyeuristic tone. Shutting out African Americans is a tragic part of Oregon and Portland's histories. What does this article add to the conversation?

I understand that Portland is an expensive city. However, no more expensive than DC right? And I see a huge percentage of blacks living in DC.

So why do folks in places like Portland feel so free to look down on us hicks in Texas? Texas is already majority minority at the state level. When are you self-righteous do-gooders in other states going to get with the program?

This train wreck has been gathering steam for over 25 years now, you can throw in Seattle too. Nothing has been done to slow it down or stop it, on the contrary city leaders, business leaders have been encouraging this gentrification and displacement of the poor and middle class. The last 10 years in particular have been awful for people making minimum wage and and little bit higher. The portait was and is being painted in front of these so-called liberals, progressives, white folks in particular and no one really cares on how ugly the painting is. Out of sight, out of mind; these white liberals are hypocrites in my eyes. Sure they all vote for liberal, democratic candidates, supposedly support minority rights, immigrants rights, rights for the poor and homeless.... "HA!", I say, not walking your talk, but walking with your greedy pockets open, to the highest corporate bidder to hire them, so they can go out and buy their half million dollar house that only a few years ago cost less than half, only to displace the poor, and the struggling middle class of all ethnicities. I'm so sick now i think i need to vomit. Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, NYC, i truly hope the sea levels rise sooner than expected to flood your glorious gentrified neighborhoods.

The identity politics agenda being pursued here is so insane it’s mind boggling.

Of the current minority populations, African Americans are about to be outnumbered everywhere in the country. In some places they already are. Gentrification is rampant anyplace desirable to live, especially on the West coast. Seattle, SF and LA are no different. Many lower income whites are also priced out and leaving too.

There's also an excellent new documentary film about gentrification in Portland. Called "Priced Out" it is "an investigative and personal look at how skyrocketing housing prices are displacing Portland's black community and reshaping the entire city. The feature-length documentary explores the complexities and contradictions of gentrification and what neighborhood life means after the era of 'The Ghetto.' The film is a sequel to the 2002 documentary 'NorthEast Passage: The Inner City and the American Dream.'"

Sure gentrification creeps in. People don’t buy whole neighborhoods at one time. People invest their money and take risks that neighborhoods might be marginal might improve. They look for opportunity in low housing prices. “Lurking around every corner” sounds much more sinister than people risking their money for opportunity though. That is also far from “robbing people physically” which gives the impression that people are violently driven from their homes, which are stolen from them. This article smacks of labeling what can be normal economic changes as being entirely racially motivated.

No knowledgeable resident of Portland asserts "there aren't any black people". Now there may be a problem that most of us do not hang out discussing "whiteness". Most of us are more immediately concerned with the soaring cost of housing, a major source of strain not only for the black population but for most of us. Long-time residents are very much aware of urban renewal programs that badly damaged black neighborhoods, in the process displacing people, eradicating jobs, and destroying the social fabric which made those neighborhoods viable communities. Yet with 6.3 percent of the city's population one of 5 county commissioners is black and come November one of 5 city council members will be black. Indeed part of the challenge for Portland is not that we mistakenly believe there aren't any black people but we recognize surging Asian and Hispanic populations also compete for space on public agendas and for scarce public resources. Few people note our light rail system makes announcements in Spanish as well as English or that the bus system publishes instructions on how to use its services in 7 languages. And Mr. Nagaoka's comment notwithstanding our lack of attention to these changes in local culture have less to do with self-absorbed conversations about whiteness than our appreciation growing diversity provides us with one of the most eclectic food cart arrays in the country, a vibrant music scene, and a steady flow of accomplished young people through our public schools.