Community
Housing is often perceived as an individual matter, with individuals making decisions about where they live, the type of housing they prefer, and when to relocate. Economic models typically frame housing as an individual choice, and most housing policies focus on aligning individuals with suitable housing units. However, it’s essential to recognize that people’s homes serve as more than just a place to live. They are spaces where individuals become integrated into specific communities, establish support networks, and access essential services such as healthcare, food, and education. As a result, displacement from one’s home represents more than just a loss of shelter; it severs connections to wider communities, essential services, personal histories, and life experiences. In cases of involuntary displacement, it disrupts every aspect of a person’s life.
Viewing housing not solely as a residence but as a foundation for social connections allows us to understand how property laws and markets shape citizens’ everyday lives. When long-term tenants face eviction in cities like San Francisco, it often entails leaving not only their homes but also their neighbourhoods. Frequently, this means relocating to entirely different cities due to the exorbitant rents in San Francisco, where long-term tenants may have benefited from rent control for some time. The primary concerns of those facing displacement typically revolve around their children’s schools, long-standing healthcare providers, local social services, and supportive relationships with neighbours. In the racially stratified landscape of the United States, displacement often results in the destruction or displacement of Black, Asian, or Latino neighbourhoods and communities, often relocating them to areas lacking essential services such as quality supermarkets, hospitals, and schools.
Community displacement is not incidental but a deliberate aspect of urban renewal policies aimed at ‘upgrading’ neighbourhoods, often through social mixing initiatives. In the Netherlands, Amsterdam’s severe housing shortage, coupled with the city’s limited expansion options, has led to the active promotion of densification efforts. However, this process often serves as a justification for demolishing and renewing areas, and displacing previous residents. In neighbourhoods like Nieuw-West, social housing units have been demolished to make space for a mix of social and privately owned housing, driving up prices and making it more difficult for existing communities to secure housing in the future.
In Spain, Tenant’s Unions in Madrid and Barcelona resist ‘invisible evictions’ through actions like the Stay Put campaign. These actions emphasise the broader relationships and networks tenants have within their living environments. Specifically, the Stay Put campaign focuses not only on resisting evictions and renegotiating rental contracts but also on organising tenant communities in buildings facing invisible evictions. By building solidarity among neighbours through a common struggle to remain in their homes, such initiatives also foster vibrant communities and democratic practices.
In Greece, the phenomenon of touristification goes hand-in-hand with displacement due to the proliferation of short-term rentals. Short-term arrangements profoundly impact communities, as long-term residents, workers, and students often face displacement during peak tourist seasons, when they are either forced to vacate their homes for short-term rentals or limited to seasonal leases. This disrupts their lives, work, and study opportunities, turning them into nomads in their own cities. Moreover, it strains essential services such as hospitals and schools, which may become understaffed due to housing scarcity and exceedingly transitory populations. The resulting displacement and high rents not only affect individuals directly but also have broader repercussions on the neighbourhoods and communities most affected by these issues.
REFERENCES
Brooks, K. (2014) Research shows food deserts more abundant in minority neighbourhoods. John Hopkins University.
Bektaş, Y., & Taşan-Kok, T. (2020). Love thy neighbor? Remnants of the social-mix policy in the Kolenkit neighborhood, Amsterdam. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 35, 743-761.
Katsinas, P. (2021). Professionalisation of short-term rentals and emergent tourism gentrification in post-crisis Thessaloniki. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 53(7), 1652-1670.
Marcuse, P., & Madden, D. (2016). In defense of housing: The politics of crisis. Verso Books.
Mulder, C. H. (1996). Housing choice: assumptions and approaches. Netherlands Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 11(3), 209–232.
UC Berkeley’s Urban Displacement Project and the California Housing Partnership (2019) Rising Housing Costs and Re-Segregation in the San Francisco Bay Area, California Housing Partner.
