Kel Hudson's profile

Does This Mean We're Getting A Starbucks?

After moving to Spokane, Washington I noticed that there was suddenly a lot of real estate going up for sale and along with that came this rogue signage prompting people to call them to sell their house immediately, "We Buy Houses!" It reminded me of those junk yards in rural parts of the US advertising "we buy cars, any condition!" After doing some research it became apparent to me that these "We Buy Houses" signs were actually middle men taking advantage of home owners that couldn't maintain the cost of their homes and were partnering with home flippers and real estate agents to get these homes out from under these desperate people for as little money as possible so they could be immediately flipped and resold. Also noted in my research was that these middlemen were being allowed to continue these practices because they were essentially helping to gentrify previously bad areas of cities (AKA, getting rid of the poverty).
After reading all this, I sat back and thought to myself, "oh, so this means we're going to get a Starbucks on the corner soon." Hence the quote at the bottom. For those of you confused, getting a Starbucks or a Target is typically the first sign a neighborhood is gentrifying in the USA.

Original Created: 2021
Materials: Gouache, ink and watercolor on paper
Size: 16" x 20"
Does This Mean We're Getting A Starbucks?
Published:

Does This Mean We're Getting A Starbucks?

Published: