The Fight Against Gentrification in Portland, Oregon
Chanel J Wick
George Fox University
Sociology 150 ZP1
May 1, 2016

** I affirm that I have adhered to GFU’s expectations for integrity in the completion of this paper. This work is my own, which I have created specifically for this assignment.
** I affirm that I have adhered to GFU’s expectations for integrity in the completion of this paper. This work is my own, which I have created specifically for this assignment.

The Fight Against Gentrification in Portland, Oregon Gentrification is a way of middle and upper class families buying homes and businesses of those in a low-income, unrefined urban neighborhood, making renovations to increase the value of the neighborhood. Although it sounds promising for the neighborhood, gentrification often comes at the expense of the original low-income residents by causing displacement due to the inability to afford increased property taxes and rent. Portland, OR has been named as the most gentrified city in the last 100 years (Wile, 2015). There are several local groups in Portland who aim to help those in need such as The Oregon community Alliance of Tenants and The Portland Tenants Union. I had the pleasure of interviewing a volunteer of both groups, Carlos Covarrubias, a native to Portland and a social activist that believes strongly in the fight to stop gentrification in Portland. Carlos and I grew up together in the North East part of Portland, one of the first areas to experience the effect of new wealthy homeowner’s change in the landscape of the city. Like a lot of families in North and North East Portland, my mother had to sell our home because she could no longer afford the property tax in our neighborhood. She sold it for less than one hundred thousand dollars, and was then flipped and sold 2 years later for over half a million dollars. Carlos is one