Gentrification is a powerful force that is rapidly transforming urban neighborhoods in Dallas and in cities across the country, threatening to displace vulnerable residents and fundamentally altering the cultural character of our communities.
A Right to Stay is designed to help Dallas residents and policymakers better understand what gentrification is and where it’s taking place in the city and to offer concrete examples of proven policy and programmatic solutions to mitigate residential displacement in gentrifying Dallas neighborhoods.
Defining Gentrification & Displacement
While gentrification is often referred to as a natural, even inevitable, process of neighborhood change driven by individual choice and consumer-based supply and demand, those who study this process closely understand that there is much more at play. Author Peter Moskowitz describes gentrification as “not just a trend” but “a purposeful act” spurred by a combination of political and economic forces that fundamentally “favor the creation of wealth over the creation of community.” These forces set the stage for the very specific process of neighborhood change that we recognize as gentrification.
Mapping Gentrifying Neighborhoods In Dallas
Our study tracks neighborhood change in Dallas over a ten-year timeframe from 2011 to 2021, classifying every neighborhood as either gentrifying or not, and then assigning gentrifying neighborhoods to one of six categories of gentrification and displacement risk. Our approach adapts and builds on the gentrification mapping methodology originally developed by Professor Lisa Bates at Portland State University in 2013 and since replicated in many cities across the country, including in Austin, Texas, by the University of Texas’ Uprooted Project in 2018.
Neighborhood Case Studies
Our neighborhood case studies tell the stories of three distinct Dallas neighborhoods facing unique and significant displacement pressures. These neighborhoods are: West Dallas, South Dallas, and Vickery Meadow. These three neighborhoods were selected by our Project Team and Advisory Committee through a multistep, collaborative process, with community feedback collected at our citywide case study selection workshop in May 2023. Our goal in selecting these three focus areas was to make sure we captured the diversity of Dallas’ vulnerable neighborhoods from a socioeconomic, housing market, and geographic perspective.
Policy Recommendations
Our policy recommendations offer specific policies and strategies for mitigating the displacement of vulnerable residents in gentrifying neighborhoods.
