“This gentrification stuff is happening in very few places, affecting a small number of people.”

The quote in the title is by Beth McConnell, policy director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations.

Below is more information about 'gentrification', a phenomena that is very misunderstood and ergo why it's used to confuse and misinform the public so often, even in cities like Lake Worth. To see how the "wolf at the door" is used as a political tactic look in the right-hand column for 'Gentrification!' & politics of fear or use this link.

Below are three excerpts from this article by Rachel M. Cohen titled, "Poverty, Not Gentrification, Is the Biggest Barrier to Affordable Housing":

     When the mainstream media cover housing affordability issues, journalists often hone in on gentrification. Young, mostly white, college educated people are moving into urban cities, they say, followed by yoga studios, coffee shops, and luxury apartments. This influx of affluent individuals allegedly fuels the displacement of the poor.
     These narratives may be popular, but research studies have shown that gentrification is rare and, in some cases, beneficial. The biggest housing problems facing America’s low-income residents have little to do with wealthier people moving in and everything to do with low-income residents falling even further behind. [emphasis added] Last month, a new Pew Charitable Trusts report found that just 15 of Philadelphia’s 372 residential census tracts gentrified between 2000 and 2014.

[and. . .]

     In the Pew report, Beth McConnell, policy director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations noted, “This gentrification stuff is happening in very few places, affecting a small number of people.” She added, “We have many more poor neighborhoods where there is no change.” 

[and. . .]

     Nevertheless, housing affordability problems and solutions vary from region to region, and they cannot be properly addressed by blaming poverty on gentrification. . . If we are serious about changing these dynamics, then a more nuanced focus on housing simply has to be on the agenda.