Gentrification

As rising numbers of young professionals, wealthy foreigners and baby boomers move to America's urban centers, they are bringing prosperity and new life to once-derelict neighborhoods. But the newcomers also are causing real estate values to soar, sparking concern that people with less means are being forced to move to lower-cost suburbs, where jobs and social services are scarcer and commutes longer. Some experts say fears about gentrification's negative effects are overblown. But advocates for the poor worry that gentrification is contributing to income disparity, leading several big-city mayors to seek ways to minimize the effects on low-income residents, such as expanding paid sick leave and living-wage requirements and mandating some affordable housing units in new residential developments. While many cities have embraced the prosperity that gentrification has spurred, experts question whether the changes are sustainable, especially if cities can't continue to appeal to younger residents as they begin raising families.