Moreno Valley's Gentrification Plans

Moreno Valley, CA, a city located in the county of Riverside in the Inland Empire, is considered a fastly growing suburban area with its spike in population by 25 percent from 142,000 to 178,000.  These statistics are based on the time span on 2000-2004 (Dreier and Stekler).  One major reason for this expansion: "the combination of cheaper land and fiscally trapped small cities welcoming new single-family subdivisions, encourages developers to build on the suburban fringe rather than near the urban center."  Developers and gentrifiers are attracted to areas like Moreno Valley because the land is large, cheap and welcoming, great for the housing market. 

The average home in Los Angeles sells for $500,000 whereas in Moreno Valley, a much large home is valued at half that price, $255,000.  With the influx of the population of Los Angeles, builders could not keep up with the housing construction demands.  Thus, the population looked elsewhere to places nearby that offered affordable housing such as Moreno Valley. 

The building of housing and movement of people to the housing was productive in its beginning stages becasue the inital housing mortgage payments demanded of residents were low.  However, these demands increased over time, making it difficult for residents to keep their homes.  As a result, many of the residents had to give their homes up to the bank because of inability to pay the demanded mortgage payments.  This trend occured over the city, making Moreno Valley one of the largest Southern California areas of  housing foreclosure.