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by txsh 2916 days ago
Decades of redlining have conditioned people to associate minorities moving into a neighborhood with the decline of property values. Black and brown people appearing on sidewalks is a signal to sell and move to a nicer neighborhood. If you don’t, your other white neighbors will and you’ll be the sucker left with a house you can’t sell as its value plummets. It’s called “white flight”.

That’s what this this issue is really about. Poor people = minorities. NIMBYs want to keep the minorities out of their neighborhood because they’ll trigger white flight.

2 comments

I've lived in both poor areas and very affluent areas.

I don't think that poor people = minorities is true at all. There are plenty of minority neighborhoods where the residents are extremely caring.

Some of the worst neighborhoods I've been in have been low-income white. Constantly woken up by pounding on walls, smashing doors, police coming due to domestic violence, drug-use.

If I had to chose, I'd live in a minority neighborhood rather than one of low socio-economic status.

You're reading a lot of minds here. Or projecting.