The argument has been made in Victoria that there are synergies when social services are clustered together that outweight the ghettoization of a neighbourhood. This argument could also be applied to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The Tyee recently ran a different, rather surprising argument:

The majority of Downtown Eastside residents have life situations that are similar to each other and different from the situations of the residents of any other neighbourhood. This congregation of difference creates a unique culture.* In particular, the culture is more community-oriented. Gentrification of the neighbourhood will destroy this unique culture.

* Testing whether this is true for language, (street) art and cultural rituals is an entire anthropology research program.