SBAN Report Focuses on Anti-Displacement Strategies for Early Stages of Gentrification
SBAN’s new report Getting Ahead of Small Business Displacement: Strategies for the Early Stages of Gentrification looks at how commercial gentrification unfolds in its earliest stages and identifies strategies for early intervention. It draws on existing research, focus group conversations with SBAN members, and discussions from SBAN webinars and conference sessions.
The report outlines how the earliest signs of commercial gentrification appear long before communities experience rising rents, an influx of higher-income residents, or physical redevelopment. The authors argue that advocates must focus on intervening before this, when long-term patterns of disinvestment, redevelopment planning decisions, and regulatory changes begin the process of small business displacement.
Recommendations include:
- Reducing susceptibility to gentrification and displacement through equitable redevelopment practices and increased access to capital.
- Improving transparency and community involvement in redevelopment processes.
- Strengthening commercial tenant protections and building advocacy coalitions.
- Dedicating funding to small business support as gentrification unfolds.
The report was supported by the Kresge Foundation and authored by SBAN researcher and University of Maryland doctoral student Sophie McManus, SBAN Director Willow Lung, and Associate Director Katy June-Friesen.
Photo: Rainbow Laundry in the Long Branch neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland, is near the new light rail Purple Line. Credit: Melissa Lyttle
