Summary
On October 6, 2015, the Healthy, Equitable, Active Land Use (HEALU) Network convened practitioners, policymakers, funders and community advocates to discuss Healthy Development Without Displacement. The crowd consisted of nearly 100 participants engaged in anti-displacement work as well as practitioners seeking to learn more from local and national experts about how the tools and concepts to prevent and/or mitigate displacement apply in their own work. The recent groundswell of Healthy Communities initiatives highlighted an important tension that needed to be addressed: changes to improve community environments, such as walking trails, bike paths, healthy food retail, and parks and open space, can be perceived negatively by residents as precursors to gentrification, and, if no measures are taken to protect current residents, can ultimately lead to displacement of residents who would stand to benefit the most from these very community improvements.