Gentrification Wars in themail

Lea Adams posts in themail about was sounds like gentrifyers conqureing lands and banning the former residents of the are from coming back. I really have no idea how many people that come in from out of town to go to church in the City were actual residents of that neighborhood, but from the looks of some of the cars, I don't think they left because they could not afford to live there anymore.

What bothers me about this email, and most complaints about gentirification that I see, is that she is blaming the newcomers for the problems - but not the landlords who illegally raise rents or evict tentants. Sure there is more incentive to do this when you can bring in wealthier tenants, but ultimately the problem of wrongly displaced people is caused by the landlords (and DCRA who does not enforce the laws).

"Now we have The Gentrifiers (protecting their newly escalated property values) versus The Uprooted (former neighbors coming to church in the family neighborhood they can no longer afford). The seething resentment of the dispossessed natives pales by comparison to the whining hubris of the victorious settlers." We Are the City, September 28, 2005