It’s a mellow Saturday evening, and I’m waiting for a long-time friend in the foodcourt of a downtown San Francisco mall.  Finally, after a few moments, he arrives. I couldn’t be more ecstatic to see him. Even though we hadn’t seen each since our middle school graduation, we started chatting away about politics like two old men.

Topic of discussion suddenly switched to gentrification. If you need a recap, gentrification is the process of renovating and raising the rent in poor urban neighborhoods. As a result, poorer residents are forced out by higher rent, which allows wealthier citizens to take their place. But as my friend accurately pointed out, many seem to be missing the mark in understanding why gentrification is actually bad.

“I really hate when people say that gentrification is bad because it decreases diversity. There’s way more to the story than that.” The San Francisco Rent Board’s Annual Eviction report showed that there has been a 54.7 percent increase in notices of evictions over the past five years. In turn, gentrification is an issue that goes well beyond the loss of diversity: It is an issue about the loss of homes and livelihood.

The issue has become a widely-debated topic across the United States, some of the places closest to us — like Portland and San Francisco — serve as some of the most drastic examples of gentrification’s impact. According to an analysis by Governing magazine, 58 percent of Portland’s lower priced neighborhoods had become gentrified since 2000. There are even whispers about the Whiteaker neighborhood in Eugene slowly succumbing to the trend of gentrification.

But numbers can only tell so much. The real problem with gentrification has to do with the emotional attachment that’s severed after residents are asked to leave their homes. Gentrification asks people — some of whom have lived in the same neighborhood for generations — to move elsewhere.

Displacement is only one of the issues that gentrification raises. Once old residents are out, “gentrifiers” water down the cultural value of the area they’ve moved into. While the majority of those moving in do not mean to do this on purpose, tensions between the displaced and those who move in inevitably begin to boil.

This ultimately breeds distrust between the residents who reside in poor neighborhoods and the city. For instance, when rent prices increase, many might fear eviction if they speak out. This becomes especially problematic when people of color are put into that position. The result: deep-rooted tensions and animosity between racial minorities and those in charge of the city.

How can opportunities to discuss equality take place if there is hidden anger in the room?

Imagine being forced out the home you and your family have lived in for all your life. Imagine that people who don’t even understand the culture of your community are replacing your neighbors. Imagine knowing that you can’t live in your neighborhood anymore unless you’re making as much money as doctors, lawyers or CEOs. For many, these are realities.

The time has come for us to recognize that gentrification is an issue too complicated to describe in just a few sentences. The longer we wait to acknowledge the heart(s) of the problem, the longer we’ll have to wait to create the body of the solution.