Mapping the Political Economy of Transit-Induced Gentrification
Topics:
Keywords: transit-induced gentrification, tenant organizing, scholar-activism, Canada
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Authors:
Emily Power, University of Toronto
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Abstract
Should working-class people be forced to choose between affordable housing and access to high-quality public transit? This is a growing concern among tenants, activists, and scholars. State-sponsored public transit infrastructure projects, coupled with ‘transit oriented development’ (TOD) upzoning plans, are accelerating patterns of gentrification and displacement. In Ontario, transit projects are planned in a top-down fashion by Metrolinx, a crown corporation with an annual capital budget of CAD$5 billion, often with little input from municipalities and little forethought given to gentrification impacts. This paper focuses on Metrolinx’s Light Rail Transit (LRT) project in Hamilton, which resulted in the demolition of 90 buildings and the displacement of dozens of tenants, who received little compensation and no replacement housing. Hamilton’s transit project was presented as a silver bullet for the post-industrial city’s woes, including ‘blight’, poverty, a shrinking tax base, traffic congestion, slow bus service, and pollution. LRT received support from city planners, the development industry, landlord association, and chamber of commerce, but also environmental activists, labour council, and anti-poverty social agencies and community groups. In this paper, I criticize the role of business interests in shaping this transit investment and TOD plans, through a content analysis, media scan, land use and zoning analysis, and inventory of development applications and apartment sales. I map gentrification impacts through an analysis of eviction filing data, rents, and census demographics. Finally, I consider the impact of working-class fightback through interviews with tenants and reflections on my time as an organizer supporting anti demo-viction campaigns.
Mapping the Political Economy of Transit-Induced Gentrification
Category
Virtual Paper Abstract