What is Displacement?
Displacement is when you are forced to move for reasons outside of your control.
Displacement can happen because a building is demolished or by eviction of a single household, but can also happen to an entire community over a period of months or years because of rising costs.
Displacement impacts not only the people who are displaced, but also their families and neighbors, the larger community, and the city, county and region as a whole.
Watch this five minute video from The Urban Displacement Project to learn more about displacement and how it is affecting communities across the US.
Forms of displacement
Want more definitions? Head to the Glossary page to see all defined terms used throughout the site.
Direct Displacement
When a person or family is forced to move because they are evicted or because their building is torn down.
Evictions can also be informal—when tenants leave before being formally evicted, often due to steep rent increases (legal or not), harrasment, or unsafe conditions. This is the most visible and immediate form of displacement, and can be extremely disruptive to people’s lives.
Indirect Displacement
When a person or family can no longer afford to stay in their home because of rising rents.
As rents increase, people feel pressure to move to a place they can more easily afford. This type of displacement happens more slowly over time and is difficult to track.
Cultural Displacement
When new development and new residents change the character of an area.
The people who have lived in that area for a long time can feel a sense of loss. This displacement often happens slowly over time as older businesses close or move away, religious and cultural institutions lose their members, and public spaces are reoriented to new users and activities. Cultural displacement often results in gentrification (see below) and residents may look to more affordable or welcoming places to live.
What is gentrification?
A type of neighborhood change that happens when people who make higher incomes move into neighborhoods that haven’t received as much investment or where residents have typically made lower incomes. This change can cause rents, housing prices, and other costs to rise. After a while, gentrification may also cause cultural displacement where residents who stay no longer feel the community reflects who they are and their needs.
Watch this video from The Urban Displacement Project on what happens when new housing is constructed in a neighborhood. You can share it with your community to educate your neighbors and start a conversation about displacement and gentrification. It can be useful to ask yourself:
- Are these issues and trends you are seeing in your community?
- What types of displacement are you seeing and how is it impacting you, your community, local businesses, and those who had to move away?
Why does displacement happen?
Displacement has many causes, and those causes often work together. These issues are complicated and are different for every community. Below is an overview of some of the major drivers of displacement in the Bay Area.
Incomes are not keeping up with the rising cost of housing
Many people are spending too much of their income on rent or housing, and some can’t find any housing they can afford.
Segregation and redlining
Decisions about redlining and housing segregation made in the past have created lasting inequality that make low-income households of color more likely to be displaced.
More information: The Urban Displacement Project’s video “The Legacy of Redlining”
Not enough affordable housing
More need for housing can lead to big increases in rent costs and can cause older and more affordable homes to be torn down to build new, more expensive homes. At the same time, not enough affordable housing is being built to keep up with the need.
Regional population and job market growth
As more people look for housing, not enough have been built to keep up, which increases the cost of rent.
Not enough protection for tenants
If a community does not have laws aimed at protecting renters against unfair evictions or sudden increases in rent costs, then people are more likely to be displaced.
Loss of previously affordable homes
In most places, older housing options do not cost as much to rent or buy. However, in a housing market as competitive as the Bay Area, even older homes that may not be as nice and may cost a lot to take care of, have gone up in cost.
What can we do about displacement?
Anti-displacement strategies aim to help people stay in their homes and neighborhoods and to keep communities stable.
Get Involved
Take the Community Survey!
Tell us what you think about displacement and how it is affecting you and your community.
Your feedback is important and will help local staff understand how best to address displacement in our communities.
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Check out other ways to get involved and learn more:
Connect to Your Community
Learn more about the housing element, get local information about housing and connect with local staff.
Browse Resources
Download informational handouts and connect with organizations that are working to prevent displacement.