Young professionals as well as empty nesters are flooding into our cities, buying up lofts and condos and dilapidated historic residences, opening avant-garde artist studios and gourmet eateries. If market forces alone are allowed to rule the day, the poor will be gradually, silently displaced, for the market has no conscience. But those who do understand God’s heart for the poor have a historic challenge to infuse the values of compassion and justice into the process. But it will require altogether new paradigms of ministry. Bob Lupton
Found through Common Grounds Online, this is a familiar message from those with left-wing political allegiances but from this comes from the Presbytarian Church of America's journal (here). It's written by Bob Lupton who moved into an unsafe downtown neighbourhood and within months of him buying and moving in, two more families moved. Within six months, a developer build three nice little townhouses – his crazy decision had sparked a movement called gentrification. Lupton out of conscience learned the business of real estate development in order to save the homes of his neighbours who were being evicted. These were very people he had decided to live among. Lupton writes further:-
The urban church that seeks to minister in disadvantaged areas faces the eventual disappearance of lower-income renters from their communities. Such urban ministries are approaching an inevitable T in the road. If they remain committed to the poor, they must decide to either follow the migration streams as they gravitate to the periphery of the city, or get involved in real estate to capture affordable property in their neighborhood to ensure that their low-income neighbors retain a permanent place. “Migrant ministries” move with the people, establish ministry centers in the affordable suburban apartments, remain flexible. “Community development ministries” on the other hand remain rooted in the parish, purchase housing and land, form partnerships with builders and developers that enable their members (neighbors) to remain in a reviving community that has a healthy mix of incomes. Either strategy is legitimate. Both require significant retooling.I've been troubled by gentrification for sometime. Sometimes called revitalization often it is more a codification for cleaning up an area, driving out all the undesirable elements. My friend Steve and I have been talking about incarnational living as community based ministry for quite a time and yet that can precipitate gentrification. I wondered what to do with this ambivalence I've felt and Lupton's article allows me to accept that ambivalence.
With the acceptance of the inevitability of gentrification, he calls for "gentrification with justice". Diversity is a gift but means both economical and ethnic. Communities are not accidents but are intentional and so are diverse ones. The older residents are a richness of history about things and people. Economic viability is not an option extra. For the community to be healthy it must have sufficient neighbours with income levels to attract and sustain businesses. But Lupton's call for justice cries that the poor also be "embraced and included" in the benefits.
[For] God's Shalom must be worked at. The roles of peacemakers, communicators, gatherers, organizers, connectors are some of the most vital talents needed for the establishment of “peace and prosperity” and a prevailing sense of well-being that God desires for His creation. Shalom is not merely the absence of crime on the street, it is the prevailing presence of peace and goodness in the relationships of God’s diverse family. It is achieved only by intentional effort.He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
