Government
How Gentrification Affected Philadelphia's Homeowners
Tax delinquency rates rose with jumps in tax burdens, but relief programs for some owners helped mitigate the effect.
When a neighborhood gentrifies, and housing values go up, incumbent renters in that neighborhood are at risk of being priced out. We all know that story. But what’s the effect on homeowners?
That is the question a new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia seeks to answer. In it, authors Lei Ding and Jackelyn Hwang examine the effect of gentrification—defined here as “the influx of investment and higher-income households in previously low-income neighborhoods”—on the property tax burdens of homeowners, particularly low-income ones.