Gentrification and Displacement: The Effects of a Housing Crisis on Melbourne's Low-Income Residents

Abstract

This article examines gentrification processes in the context of a policy-induced housing crisis. It describes the effects of the crisis on Melbourne's inner western suburbs and documents the consequences for low-income residents. The article presents quantitative and qualitative evidence to show that the housing reallocation process has brought more affluent residents to the inner western suburbs and displaced low-income residents, pushing them into more affordable suburbs further from the city centre. This evidence exposes some of the limitations of the existing quantitative approaches to the study of displacement. We argue that the displacement effects of gentrification depend on pace of neighbourhood housing reallocation processes and housing affordability in adjacent neighbourhoods. The article concludes that planning, housing and population policies need to be better coordinated to prevent further erosion of the housing standards of low-income households and dissolution of their local communities.