05-04-2016, 09:32 AM
(05-04-2016, 09:19 AM)mpd618 Wrote:(05-04-2016, 01:02 AM)CTGal1011 Wrote: Our house was at one time a duplex. We converted it back to a single family dwelling. Are we part of the gentrification problem? I don't think so. I don't believe the house as a duplex was at all appropriate for renters. A sketchy side entrance, only one exit for the upper unit? It was unsafe for tenants as it was.
I don't think gentrification is necessarily an evil, and I do think the downsides can be mitigated through constructing enough new housing. But what you're describing most certainly is gentrification. And generally the conversion of houses with two or three apartments to single-family houses is a reduction in housing supply and density, not in itself a great thing. Were the renters of the apartments you considered unsafe able to find comparable housing at a comparable price in a central neigbourhood?
Ideally, Cedar Hill would be able to stay as a mix of housing types and different kinds of people. That should include new developments that can increase the number of people that can live there, so it's not zero sum.
I think the term "gentrification" needs to be eliminated in favour of "re-gentrification" in the case of Downtown Kitchener. A far as I can tell, provision for the homeless is now as good as it has ever been (at least in Kitchener, Waterloo I'm less sure about). It seems to me there is no shortage of lower-priced rental housing available within walking distance of the core. It is something that merits monitoring, but I honestly don't think we have a problem, at least for the foreseeable future.