Pennsylvania Capital Star, May 4, 2021, How rising rents and renovations have displaced Pittsburghers and added to the city’s ongoing issues with gentrification
As Pittsburgh draws more jobs in the tech and health care fields, it becomes a more desirable city for real estate investment wishing to profit off of neighborhoods’ increased area median incomes (AMI). While some developers raze blighted or vacant properties and replace them with new housing units, others purchase existing units, sometimes displacing those who already lived there, and renovate them before selling or renting them at an increased market value.
According to a National Community Reinvestment Coalition study, Pittsburgh was the eighth-most gentrified city in the U.S. in 2019, with neighborhoods like Downtown, Lawrenceville, and the Mexican War Streets seeing the sharpest levels of gentrification.
