A Longitudinal Analysis of Gentrification and the Health of Longtime Residents in Los Angeles

• In Event: 2462 - Causes and Consequences of Housing Instability and Gentrification

Abstract

The changing neighborhood characteristics associated with gentrification, including upgrades to the built environment, physical and social displacement of residents and institutions, and an influx of higher-income predominantly white residents, provide an interesting case of neighborhood change. Though there is a large literature exploring the ways in which the residential context and the timing and duration of exposure to relatively stable neighborhood conditions affects health, little is known about how duration of exposure to gentrification as a set of changing neighborhood conditions is linked to the health of longtime residents. Using restricted longitudinal data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, I ask (1) how is duration of exposure to gentrification linked to individual health? (2) How is gentrification differentially linked to individual health outcomes across ethnoracial groups? Results demonstrate that an additional year of residence in a tract undergoing gentrification is linked to a 0.027-point increase in self-reported health on a 5 point scale, ranging from 1, or poor health, to 5, or excellent health. However, this relationship is driven by white residents and those who are able to remain in these neighborhoods throughout the duration of their residential histories.

Author

• Chinyere O Agbai, Brown University