By Chianti Marks
AFRO Intern
A new study published by Springer Nature, “Gentrification and Fear of Displacement: A Quantitative Study of Older Black and White US Adults,” investigates how gentrification heightens the fear of displacement among older adults, particularly among Black residents, even when they remain in their changing neighborhoods.
Many scholars see gentrification as a racialized phenomenon that has its roots in the nation’s history of forced relocation, disinvestment and segregation in working-class and Black neighborhoods.
For many years, gentrification in the United States was concentrated in a few major cities. However, analysts claim that since the 2010s, the process has intensified nationwide in metropolitan regions, transforming underdeveloped communities with an inflow of higher-income inhabitants and rising housing costs.
Bernard Young, a 56-year-old Baltimore resident, said the changes around him feel increasingly unfamiliar.
“I’ve lived in my neighborhood for more than two decades, but every year it feels less like the place I grew up in,” Young said. “The more things change, the more I worry about whether I’ll be able to stay.”
Researchers analyzed responses from more than 4,000 Black and White adults aged 60 and older who participated in the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study. Participants were surveyed in 2023 and 2024 regarding whether they feared being displaced from their neighborhoods due to rising costs or development. Those answers were matched with Census data tracking socioeconomic and housing-cost changes between 2008–2012 and 2015–2019.
Subjects lived in neighborhoods classified as not gentrified, moderately gentrified, or ineligible to gentrify. Those living in intensely gentrified communities showed high levels of displacement fear with a prevalence ratio of 1.39.
When combining both moderate and intense gentrification communities, Black participants were more associated with displacement fears with a prevalence ratio of 1.69. Older White residents, however, showed no significant rise in displacement concerns.
These findings, according to researchers, are important since displacement fear may act as a stressor for one’s health. Previous studies have connected gentrification to increased psychological distress and housing-related health problems.
The current study provides some of the first quantitative evidence that fear of displacement could be a key mechanism connecting gentrification to health inequities.
The connection between gentrification and actual removal is still debatable, even though displacement is a major topic in public debates on gentrification.
Some studies show similar residential turnover rates in gentrifying and non-gentrifying low-income neighborhoods, primarily due to underinvested neighborhoods being highly unstable even in the absence of gentrification. However, researchers argue that gentrification may contribute to “exclusionary displacement,” in which low-income people are unable to relocate to or stay in new neighborhoods due to rising costs.
Older adults may be especially vulnerable. Many depend on local social networks, have a deep attachment to place, and rely on fixed incomes. Rent increases, property taxes or changes in neighborhood norms can put them under more financial and mental stress.
Affordability is a major factor. Studies consistently link housing-cost burdens to poor health outcomes, including mental-health challenges. The study notes that structural racism continues to shape these vulnerabilities.
“Intergenerational and contemporary forms of structural racism may also create unique vulnerabilities to gentrification-related displacement fear and affordability concerns among older Black residents,” the authors wrote. Decades of discriminatory housing and lending policies have left Black Americans with fewer financial assets, giving Black older adults less protection against rising costs.
Yet, financial hardship is just one aspect of the problem. Sociocultural displacement, the loss of familiar institutions, cultural spaces and social norms also fuel fear.
Qualitative studies show that older adults in predominantly Black neighborhoods often feel disconnected as longtime businesses and community spaces are replaced by establishments catering to newer, often White and wealthier residents.
Penelope Mace, a 64-year-old West Baltimore resident, said the changes around her have come at a personal cost.
“The new things are nice, but it takes the community away,” Mace said. “So many great places and people were once here. Some of my favorite spots are gone, and it’s hard to find new ones, especially with the thought of them possibly leaving soon and having to go through the whole process again.”
Even without an eviction notice, shifting neighborhood norms and rising housing costs can deepen fears of displacement. For 62-year-old Baltimore County resident Nahshon Roscoe, those pressures feel familiar.
“I’ve moved around a lot…due to rising rent costs but also because communities are constantly changing and I don’t feel connected to my neighborhood anymore,” Roscoe said. “I’ve just learned to accept the changes around me.”
According to the authors, these findings highlight the necessity of measures that address racial disparities in quickly evolving communities and lessen the pressures associated with displacement. In order to better understand how displacement fears impact health and how communities may assist residents who want to age in place, they urge further research.