1 reply to this topic

[Layne French]

I just want to gather a few thoughts on the positives and negatives of Gentrification and the forces behind it. Hopefully we can get a decent discussion going here on the topic.

[Holden West]

I don't think Victoria's experience the kind of gentrification experienced by places like Brooklyn or even Vancouver.

Part of it I think is that our old buildings downtown never really were inhabited by low end renters like other cities. For example, an old factory or loft closes down, squatters, artists, clubs or cheap renters move in, and eventually it becomes trendy and they are converted to condos. In Victoria it seems we went from the factory/loft era to decades of abandonment and vacancy or simply storage space (Kramer buildings) and only then does the condo conversion come.

Exceptions might be parts of Rock Bay which seem to have been continuously inhabited for the most part with some buildings becoming quite desirable and rents and prices increasing accordingly. For a time it still held the stigma of being the wrong end of town. Artists and musicians found large areas to be creative in.