So let me try to tie it together.

1. The reason the rent is rising is because there is an influx of people looking for housing. Cue our supply-demand illustration.

2. That demand is in part because of the accommodations made to downtown jersey city.

I watched dt become gentrified. No one from nyc was rushing to move to the hood in dt jersey city. There were shootings every week. Developers saw the potential in the less than ideal environment and built luxury apts and promoted brownstones on the strength of the nyc commute, skyline and probably financial incentives from the mayor.

They were able to charge a comparable rate to lesser quality apts in nyc which lured the population like the gold rush.

This is where my first comment stems from. The people that moved here during the early gentrification stage played a role in kicking out the locals because they established a demand that incentivized developers to keep building and expanding.

I was implying that the same process is happening again which I thought was ironic for them to complain about.