In the area where I was (north of LA) gentrification was a big problem. It wasn't so much a lack of wealth, but rather the massive gap, that was creating the problem. And I don't even mean that in a "rich people need to share more" sort of way (although that's always nice), but more so in that the housing and other costs of living have skyrocketed and options for lower-income families/people have been evaporating. This can easily push someone who would have been able to keep their head above the water while working a McDonalds completely under and onto the streets. Once on the streets, it is too dangerous and difficult to relocate to another state on foot. Furthermore there is a lot of justifiable defiant sentiment over the matter. Gentrification basically rolls out the notion that if an area is 'nice', then lower income people don't deserve to live there, and then pushing them out by gradually making the cost of living go through the roof. You don't see this sort of thing in a the sticks of Kentucky, for example, but you can find it all along California's coast. However they don't get 'pushed out'; they get pushed onto the streets, and as the gap widens, you've got millionaires stepping over homeless people on the sidewalks. But those same millionaires don't seem interested in funding programs to help the homeless - which makes sense, because they don't want a middle or low income class in 'their' cities - they want the poor people gone. All of the help I received while homeless was from charity volunteer type groups, people who didn't have the voting power due to being a small % to make changes in the legal system, but who are still good hearted people who just so happen to be wealthy.