Re: renters, agreed it's crappy for them. But as a renter, that's an inherently unstable living situation. IME renters move a lot, even when there's not gentrifiation.
I've been through gentrification twice during the past 12 years here in Denver. First it was a small condo in a re-claimed industrial section just south of Downtown, and now it's to the west of Denver near Sloan's Lake. In both cases there were really run down, crappy areas that got bought and developed first. Which lifted the whole neighborhood. Then when my daughter was a bit older, we moved West to be near her elementary school. Great neighborhood, old 1950s brick houses. Mostly working class 5 years ago. And more than a few abandoned lots or places that were completely neglected and run down. 3 years later, all the crap lots are gone, replaced by very nice new homes. 2 years after that, the smaller houses have been bought and built into larger, nicer, more expensive homes. My house went from $455k when I bought it to $710k now. That's awesome. That makes me very happy. And guess what, my next door neighbors, they didn't even buy their home, the inherited it from their parents. They now are sitting on $700k that they can cash out any time they want.
Yes, we have a Natural Grocers, but we also still have Sprouts and King Soopers (Safeway). And a Costco a few miles away and a SAMS, etc...
Re: taxes, that seems to vary quite a bit from state to state. Here in CO it's about .6%. So my neighbors can easily afford that. But at some point, they have the option to sell their current home, move 2 miles west to Wheat Ridge and get a new, nicer, bigger home for half the price. And they aren't alone - I asked around, most people here bought their homes for less than $100k around 20 years ago. So everyone like that is sitting on a massive windfall. And the crap houses are all gone now and there's much nicer homes in their place.
Saying "but its our home and we feel like we're being forced out", dunno that just sounds very complainypants to me. Sorry if that's harsh. I think it's because I grew up with my dad in the Air Force and we moved around a lot so I just don't have these weird attachments to buildings that others seem to.