Researchers Find a Model of Redevelopment Without Displacement

Erin Baldassari shares the news of researchers from the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative have identified the Fruitvale transit and shopping district, located in Oakland, California, as a model of redevelopment without displacement.

"As many low-income and working class residents across the state are forced to leave urban areas due to rising rents and home prices, the UCLA researchers said Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood has held onto its existing residents, along with its signature Mexican-American culture," explains Baldassari.

“It’s the holy grail of urban planning,” said Alexander Quinn, an economist with Hatch, who reviewed the study’s findings, “to say we improved the place and the people who live there are better off.”

Fruitvale is still facing displacement and gentrification, according to other sources cited in the article. The article includes more details about the transit-oriented redevelopment that has arrived in the neighborhood in recent years. The feature-length article includes a lot more depth about the demographic makeup of the district and an account of the threats to the neighborhood's resistance to displacement.