The most intriguing question at last week's faculty retreat came from the custodian, Carolyn, who was working that day. My brilliant colleague Julie Coates and I did a faculty retreat for Chicago State University on the south side of Chicago. Carolyn rents a place in the black neighborhood bordering Chicago State, which primarily serves the African American community. Listening to the faculty discussion, she asked Julie at the break about what to do about her neighborhood becoming gentrified.
It's an age old problem, gentrification, and it happens every time more prosperous people (generally white in the past) want to live somewhere else (generally where lower income minorities live).
We tore up farms for suburbs. We tore up inner city communities for highways. We moved working class people to be next to factories. We are now moving working class people out to the suburbs.
But maybe Rent Control, which has not caught on except in a few cities, will help keep lower income communities in tact. It not, Carolyn and her neighbors will be forced to move out to the suburbs, a long way from their college and workplace, Chicago State University.
Comments