Gentrification: the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle- class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents.

I am from North Philly, born and raised and I currently still reside there.  The section I live in is called Brewerytown. A little history: Brewerytown got its name because of the numerous breweries that were located along the Schuylkill during the late 19th century and early 20th century.  Back in the olden days the area used to be primarily caucasian, but as it has happened in many other urban areas, everyone moved to the suburbs and for years now the area has been primarily african-american.  In the early 2000’s when it was a buyer’s market, people were snatching up property left and right and at ridiculously low rates.  People were mostly just buying up the real estate and flipping them right away. Fast forward to the late 2000’s when the market crashed, and NOBODY could get a mortgage. I bought my house right on the cusp of that disaster in 2008. I had no money, but I had great credit, found a house and closed on it in within a month.  My oh my how things have changed in 8 years.  Condos, townhouses, luxury lofts, cute little coffee shops, and community gardens are popping  up all over the place.  However the streets are still filthy, crime is still way up and we still don’t have a decent super market.  All the people who moved out to the burbs want back into the city for what ever reason.  My mom and grandma also lived in North Philly. ( My mama still does) I remember my grandma telling me about all the notices and knocks at the door from people offering money for her home (she knew better but a lot of people didn’t) Some people who didn’t own their homes had no choice, and some people were older and maybe didn’t have someone looking out for them to tell them that even the thousands of dollars they were being offered to sell their homes still wasn’t a fraction of what the buyers knew the home could be worth.  There are homes going in my area for 300K and up. For a row home. In North Philadelphia. With no parking. Small yards and a crappy school district. Even if you do own your home and you have a fixed rate mortgage, you know what gentrification does? It raises your property taxes. Luckily I qualify for a Homestead Exemption so I’m getting a break with that. ( Look into it if you haven’t already) What about home insurance? Yup, that has gotten higher each year as well. So you know what happens to the poor and working poor who live in the area? You guessed it, the heave ho.  Now in my area this has happened relatively slowly, but I’ve seen other areas that seems like they changed overnight.  I love how the area is marketed as Brewerytown , the new up and coming neighborhood because they are hoping that the folks coming from the burbs have been out of the loop so long that they won’t recognize that they are moving to North Philly.  I’m never selling my house, and if I do, it won’t be for years to come. But what I will do is rent that sucker out whilst I move to a nice home somewhere, not right underneath my neighbors, where crime is down, and schools are suitable for the type of education I’d want my child to have. They want Brewerytown, they can have it. I want something more.