My city is gentrifying…

and by that I simply mean that people with money and resources are moving into neighborhoods where people don’t have the same kinds of resources, and certainly don’t have much money.

Now, theoretically, there’s nothing inherently good or bad about someone moving to the city; yet, wherever this scenario plays out, it rarely ends well for the struggling families who have been rooted in their neighborhoods for years. In fact, it often ends in foreclosure, eviction, property tax hikes, or the close of locally owned businesses and restaurants.

Take my current apartment for example. It has all the amenities I could need; a gym, a pool, secure mail service, and a dishwasher!!! (We lived years without a dishwasher… it’s amazing). But think about this… I spend my rent money every month. Where does that money go? Well, it turns out that it goes to a giant apartment building corporation in Dallas, Texas. This corporation has a knack for building hip trendy apartment complexes in up-and-coming (often code for gentrifying) neighborhoods, and then taking money – that might otherwise stay in the community via local businesses, home equity, or services like gyms and parks – and using it to build more apartments in Houston or Indianapolis…

Needless to say, this impacts the community around me. Neighbors walking down the street are now seen as threats because new folks in the community don’t know them. Neighbors whose businesses were geared to serve the community now struggle to pay the rent because the new folks in town won’t shop there and don’t have the same buying habits. Neighbors celebrating a Falcons’ win the same way they always have, now find themselves having the cops called on them by Millennials driving Priuses.

And as a Prius-driving Millennial, I have to say; I think we can do better. I hope that whatever neighborhood Lauren and I end up in after we move out of this Texan-owned Money-pit, I hope that we learn to be good neighbors. I hope that we build relationships built on knowing each other and striving to build hope and trust in the community.

It’s something I should ask myself every day: What does being a good neighbor look like in this place? How can I be a better neighbor to my community?