Opinion: Gentrification isn’t a universal problem. Democrats would do well to remember that.
Among liberal circles, gentrification and housing costs have fully gone prime-time. In the months before entering the 2020 presidential race, Sens. Kamala D. Harris , Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren all proposed legislation that would provide financial assistance to tenants and encourage more development in places where housing is in short supply. Under Harris’s proposal, renters who make as much as $125,000 annually would be eligible for a rebate, depending on where they live.
But nationally, gentrification is an issue in only a handful of booming cities. Democrats hoping to lay out a vision to recapture the presidency in 2020 would do well to craft a more inclusive housing strategy that also addresses the challenges in heartland metropolitan areas such as Milwaukee, Detroit and St. Louis.
How do we fix this imbalance? History provides a prescription. During the 20th century, the federal government established a strong competition policy regime that prevented large corporations headquartered in a handful of metros from snatching capital and talent away from everywhere else. Antitrust enforcers blocked powerful companies from acquiring rivals and broke up businesses that had cornered too much of any particular market.
To help solve our housing crisis and foster metropolitan equality, policymakers need to focus on reconstructing the kinds of vigorous competition policies that kept the playing field level for decades. This means blocking mega-mergers that increase the concentration of wealth in already wealthy cities. It entails breaking up companies that, like Amazon, already dominate markets.
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