Gentrification plays a major role in poverty. Basically, gentrification refers to removing poor people from their homes usually by purchasing the building and replacing low-cost apartments with high-priced luxury apartments with tough application procedures. This most often happens in cities, where demand exists for both high-priced and low-priced apartments, in that cities tend to have wealthy businessmen as well as a poor underclass.
In regards to gentrification and poverty, many caring people promote the production of low-cost efficiency homes in areas with lots of poverty. I see that as misguided.
If we want to build low-cost housing and apartments for poor people, I suggest building it out of inner-city. These poor neighborhoods and cities have tons of violence, drugs, and other unhealthy environmental factors that contribute to poverty. Additionally, the public schools in poor areas offer the worst educations. Let’s build the low-cost housing in more suburban areas and help otherwise poor people get jobs around it. Then these people can live in neighborhoods with less violence and drugs, and more quality schools and jobs.
Children who grow up out of the poor ghettos of inner-cities have more opportunities and a greatly reduced risk of future poverty.
This will work most effectively if the low-cost housing focuses on peaceful adults with a willingness to work and children who will perform well in schools.
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