Private rental-led gentrification in England: displacement, commodification and dispossession

While central to early gentrification studies, the idea that social and tenure changes were inseparably linked to displacement has recently fallen out of research in the field. This has led to difficulties in the context of a recent shift in the tenure trajectory associated with gentrification. While the process has historically been linked to an increase in home ownership in the UK, the situation today is marked by the return of the private rental sector, a return associated with the rise of buy-to-let investors, the loss of social housing and quickly escalating rents. Gentrification operating in the UK today must thus be thought of as private rental-led gentrification – transitions to private rental in the context of social upscaling. This is shown through a detailed comparison of small-area social and tenure data from the 2001 and 2011 UK Censuses. While this tenure shift has been documented in gentrifying areas over the years, little is known about its impacts on local neighbourhoods. This is a dangerous blind-spot as private rental-led gentrification is more pernicious than gentrification linked to ownership: it is currently more widespread and likely to displace poorer residents, creates commodified spaces and its production dispossesses low-income owners.