How Displacement Harms Communities and Health
Research about displacement and community-driven solutions to prevent it and support recovery
This research roundup brings together research and stories illustrating how displacement happens, the harm it causes, and innovative solutions to prevent it and support recovery.
Communities are the foundation for health. Housing that is safe, stable, and affordable supports health. So do financial stability, connections to schools, healthcare providers, and social services, and the simple but powerful feeling of belonging somewhere. Displacement undoes all of this.
Displacement is the unwanted dislocation from or loss of community when people or businesses are pushed out of their communities, or made to feel like they no longer belong. This often happens due to rising housing costs, increased property taxes, inequitable development and investment, gentrification, forced removal, or climate-related disasters such as extreme heat, wildfires, and storms. It’s a disruptive process that can occur in urban, rural, and Tribal areas, and disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic communities and communities with low incomes—communities that have been intentionally and systematically denied public investment and devalued by policies like redlining and exclusionary zoning.
Key Findings
What causes displacement?
Displacement is caused by gentrification, eviction, racialized urban renewal, and natural disasters and climate change. Indigenous people also have a long history of displacement and discrimination.
How does displacement affect health?
Displacement can harm health and wellbeing for generations. Families that experience housing instability report worse health and higher rates of depression, psychological distress, childhood disease, and mortality. When people, families, and businesses are pushed out of their communities, they can lose jobs, connections to healthcare providers and social services, and community spaces where they are able to feel a sense of belonging, thrive, and be well. The loss of these spaces and social connections also makes it harder for communities to organize and support each other, which is important because a community’s ability to take collective action toward shared goals has been linked to positive health outcomes.
Gentrification attracts wealthier residents and new development, driving up costs until the people who built these communities in the first place can no longer afford to stay. In the last 50 years, more than 500 Black communities have been affected by gentrification, displacing at least half a million Black residents. This has disastrous effects on health. Research shows that Black and Hispanic residents of gentrifying neighborhoods experience worse social deprivation and reduced life expectancy; this holds true even when gentrification brings more medical providers and services to the area.
Once someone has been evicted, they can become ineligible for some loans and public housing benefits, and landlords may be less likely to rent to them. Many are forced to live in unsafe housing that exposes them to health hazards. For Black mothers—who are especially vulnerable to displacement through evictions—experiencing court-ordered or illegal eviction is associated with worse self-rated health. Living in neighborhoods with higher eviction rates is associated with increased psychological distress during pregnancy and a 68% higher risk of preterm birth.
In the mid-20th century, hundreds of predominantly Black neighborhoods and towns were destroyed to make way for highway construction and urban redevelopment projects, displacing millions of people. Because of redlining and exclusionary lending policies, many displaced residents were forced to relocate in areas that were intentionally devalued and denied investment. This loss of land ownership and exclusion from thriving areas significantly limits economic and educational opportunities, and contributes to the racial wealth and health gaps that still exist. Around the country, living in a formerly redlined area is linked to increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, early mortality from heart disease, asthma, preterm birth, and higher maternal mortality and morbidity for Black women.
Extreme weather and natural disasters—which are becoming more frequent and severe because of climate change—can cause displacement by destroying homes and making communities uninhabitable. For example, Hurricane Katrina displaced thousands of residents from their homes, and federal rebuilding programs based recovery payouts on home value rather than the cost to rebuild, leaving many people unable to afford to return to their community. The health impact of Katrina is still felt more than 20 years later. Displaced Black residents were more likely to experience serious mental illness than White and non-Black residents, which researchers attributed to Black residents having their homes destroyed at higher rates. Parents who were forced to relocate had higher stress, and displaced children experienced worse asthma, behavioral problems, and learning disabilities.
Research shows that generations of forced relocation, disenfranchisement, and loss of land and cultural identity are associated with economic and health disparities among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIANs). Compared to the total U.S. population, AIANs experience higher rates of poverty (21.7% vs. 12.6%), unemployment (6.8% vs. 4.3%), infant mortality (8.5% vs. 5.7%), alcohol-related death (8% vs. 1.6%), and drug overdose (5.5% vs. 3.2%). The risk of diabetes-related death is 65% higher for Native people than for White people.
How Are Communities Addressing Displacement?
Around the country, urban, rural, and Tribal areas are organizing and implementing innovative anti-displacement strategies to ensure that residents most impacted by displacement inform and drive local development and investment decisions, promote community wealth-building, and create more equitable community conditions:
- After years of local organizing, in 2014 the city of Portland, Oregon adopted a policy that prioritizes affordable housing in North/Northeast Portland to residents who were displaced by redevelopment and gentrification and their descendants so that they can return to the community they were once pushed out of.
- Local Organizing Committees (LOCs) in California’s Central Valley provide residents with a platform to voice their concerns and advocate for policy changes, and they’ve successfully addressed concerns like eviction threats, housing privatization, and disaster recovery.
- Go Austin/Vamos Austin (GAVA) organizers in Austin’s Eastern Crescent neighborhoods worked with local government officials and experts to improve the city’s emergency response and disaster preparedness plans and invest more of the city’s resources in heat mitigation and green infrastructure to reduce heat and flood risk.
- Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) like Oweesta Corporation, the African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs, and NALCAB offer less predatory loans and invest money into communities that have been excluded from traditional financial systems, helping many people of color and people with low incomes from urban, rural, and Tribal communities become homeowners or small business owners.
- The Small Business Anti-Displacement Network is preventing the displacement of small businesses in gentrifying neighborhoods through community ownership, which gives residents more control over neighborhood property and assets.
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