STEVE OWENS
for
State Representative (LD 22 Pos 1)
No Party Preference
steveo98501@gmail.com
360-522-6001

Build Homes not Jails

Growth management is all to often used as a cover for gentrification.

Growth management involves policies and strategies designed to guide and control the development of urban areas. This includes zoning laws, land use planning, infrastructure development, and other measures to manage population growth and ensure sustainable development. The goal is often to prevent urban sprawl, protect environmental resources, and maintain a high quality of life for residents.

Gentrification refers to the process by which higher-income individuals move into a lower-income neighborhood, often resulting in the displacement of long-time, lower-income residents. This process usually involves an increase in property values, rising rents, and changes in the neighborhood’s character and culture.

While many people believe that gentrification is something that happens in big cities like San Francisco, and Los Angeles, the truth is it is as much a rural problem as it is an urban problem. Rural gentrification is the process of urban and suburban residents moving to rural areas, which can change the social class structure and the character of the community. It’s a gradual process that’s often driven by immigrants, such as retirees, cultural elites, and national economic elites, who are looking to escape the city and live a rural lifestyle.

Other factors that may attract people to rural areas include:

The Housing Assistance Council discusses rural gentrification in depth in their paper “They Paved Paradise…”

In each of the counties studied, gentrification has led to a lack of housing opportunities for lower-income residents. Newly constructed housing serves upper-income residents. All three counties have experienced widespread failure in the affordable housing market. As a result, the only entities working to meet low-income families’ housing needs are nonprofit organizations and government agencies.

How Growth Management Can Conceal Gentrification

Zoning Changes:

Most zoning regulation in the United States happens at the local level, either at the city or the county level. However, in Washinton, the Growth Management act has taken freedom away from cities and counties to enact zoning that they feel is in the best interest of their residents. Excessive zoning regulations have choked off the supply of new homes in much of the U.S., causing a severe shortage and skyrocketing prices and rents. Can we solve the problem on the local level, or do we need state and federal intervention?

Currently in Washington State:

While there may be some concern that a one size fits all approach to zoning for every county in the state is better, all too often it’s the counties with the greatest influence in the legislature that establish the zoning regulations for the whole of the state.

If we are going to do that then we should at the very least prioritize opening up opportunity for the economically disadvantaged to have their own place to live by ensuring that our zoning regulations do not lead to gentrification and perhaps even grant those in the Millenial generation access to opportunities for their own housing using construction techniques more aligned with many of their preferences such as tiny homes, off grid cabins and mobile homes. Such types of construction are usually far more environmentally concious than the standard stick built home financed by a mortgage company owned by a hedge fund.

According to the Manhattan Institute:

The prices of newly built, detached, single-family homes in the U.S. have increased more than twice the rate of inflation over the last two decades. In 2000, the median price for a newly built, detached, single-family house in the U.S. was just $172,000. By 2020, that figure had soared to $336,900, an increase of nearly 96%. Over the same period, inflation as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) deflator was just 42%. Rents have also increased faster than inflation, and from February 2021 to February 2022 went up by more than 20% nationally.

Ever-costlier housing in some areas is distorting the labor market, making it difficult for employers to hire in the most productive areas of the country. It’s also widening opportunity gaps, as lower-income workers are hit by high prices and are disproportionately driven out of costly metro areas. Socioeconomic achievement gaps also widen wherever neighborhoods with better schools have drastically higher home values because families of modest income cannot afford to buy into them.

Rezoning: Growth management often involves rezoning areas to encourage new types of development, such as mixed-use buildings or high-density housing. While this can be framed as improving urban areas, it can also lead to increased property values and rents that push out existing, lower-income residents.

Upzoning: Allowing for more intensive land use can attract developers who build higher-end housing or commercial spaces. This can transform the character of a neighborhood, making it less affordable for long-time residents.

Infrastructure Investment:

Investment in infrastructure improvements (e.g., new parks, better roads, enhanced public transportation) can make a neighborhood more attractive to higher-income residents and developers. This increased attractiveness can lead to gentrification, even if the initial intent was to improve quality of life for all residents.

Development Incentives:

Policies that provide incentives for developers to build in certain areas, such as tax breaks or streamlined permitting processes, can lead to the construction of upscale properties. This can contribute to rising property values and rents, which can displace existing residents.

Housing Policies:

Sometimes growth management includes policies that prioritize the development of new, market-rate housing over affordable housing. This can lead to a situation where lower-income residents are priced out as new, more affluent residents move in.

Historic Preservation:

Efforts to preserve historic buildings and neighborhoods can sometimes be used to justify increased property values and rents. While preservation is often seen as a positive goal, it can inadvertently lead to gentrification if it attracts higher-income residents who are willing to pay more for the historic charm.

Addressing the Issue

To address the issue of growth management potentially leading to gentrification, cities and planners can adopt strategies such as:

Affordable Housing Requirements: Ensuring that new developments include a percentage of affordable housing units.

Community Engagement: Involving existing residents in the planning process to ensure that their needs and concerns are addressed.

Anti-Displacement Measures: Implementing policies that help prevent displacement, such as rent control or assistance programs for low-income renters. In summary, while growth management aims to create more organized and sustainable urban development, it can sometimes mask or contribute to gentrification if not carefully managed. Balancing development with the needs of existing residents is crucial to prevent displacement and ensure that growth benefits everyone in the community.

How Growth Management Feeds The Prison Industrial Complex

As we can see Growth Management is often code for Gentrification. This is old news that is still happening. In an article published in 2012 Adwoa Masozi claims:

States across the US are excising billions of dollars from their education budgets as if 22% of the population isn’t functionally illiterate…Closing public schools has so become the rage that the state of California has even produced a best practices guide on how to close and make them fit for turn-around…What we’re witnessing is a systemic recasting of education priorities that gives official structure and permanence to a preexisting underclass comprised of largely criminalized poor black and brown people.

Gentrification and the prison industry are interconnected in complex ways, and while they operate through different mechanisms, there are several key areas where they intersect. Understanding these connections involves examining how changes in urban areas due to gentrification can influence the prison system and vice versa.

Displacement and Crime Rates:

Displacement: Gentrification often leads to the displacement of low-income residents, who are frequently people of color. As these residents are pushed out of their neighborhoods, they might move to areas with fewer resources and increased economic stress. Increased Crime Rates: Studies have shown that economic displacement and associated stresses can contribute to higher crime rates. This, in turn, can lead to increased policing and incarceration in these displaced communities, feeding into the prison industrial complex. Increased Policing:

Policing in Gentrified Areas: As neighborhoods gentrify, there can be an increase in policing to address perceived crime and maintain property values. This can lead to more frequent interactions between residents and law enforcement, sometimes resulting in higher arrest rates.

Surveillance and Control: Gentrification can bring increased surveillance and control measures, such as more security cameras or a stronger police presence, which can disproportionately affect marginalized communities and contribute to higher incarceration rates.

Economic and Social Marginalization:

Economic Marginalization: Residents displaced by gentrification often face economic hardships, including unemployment and poverty, which can increase the likelihood of involvement in criminal activities as a means of survival.

Social Marginalization: Displaced individuals and communities might experience social marginalization, including reduced access to social services and support systems, leading to greater vulnerability to criminal justice involvement.

Privatization and Profit Motives:

Prison Industry Profits: The prison industry, including private prisons, benefits from higher incarceration rates. As gentrification leads to increased policing and potential criminalization of displaced populations, it creates a larger pool of individuals who can be incarcerated.

Political and Economic Interests: There can be political and economic interests in maintaining or increasing incarceration rates. As neighborhoods are transformed by gentrification, those who benefit from the prison industry may have an incentive to support policies that lead to more policing and incarceration.

Legal Issues: Displaced individuals facing housing insecurity may encounter legal issues related to eviction or homelessness, which can increase their interactions with the criminal justice system.

Criminal Records: Legal troubles, including minor offenses, can lead to criminal records, which make it harder for individuals to find stable housing and employment, perpetuating a cycle of marginalization and incarceration.

Addressing the Connection

To address the connection between gentrification and the prison industry, several approaches can be considered:

Comprehensive Social Policies: Implementing social policies that address both the root causes of gentrification-related displacement and the systemic issues within the criminal justice system.

Community-Based Solutions: Supporting community-based solutions that focus on economic development and social support without displacing existing residents or increasing criminalization.

Criminal Justice Reform: Advocating for reforms in the criminal justice system to reduce the reliance on incarceration and focus on restorative justice and rehabilitation.

Affordable Housing Initiatives: Ensuring that new development includes affordable housing options to prevent displacement and reduce economic pressures that can lead to increased criminal justice involvement.

In summary, gentrification can contribute to conditions that feed the prison industry by increasing displacement, economic marginalization, and policing in affected communities. Addressing these issues requires a multifaceted approach that tackles both the consequences of gentrification and the systemic problems within the criminal justice system.

Links:

Increasing Affordable Housing