Small businesses need protection in changing neighbourhoods

Have you heard of the Small Business Anti-Displacement Network? Founded during the pandemic by Willow Lung, the organization exists for one clear reason: to help small businesses survive and thrive in neighborhoods that keep changing around them.

The pandemic made one truth unavoidable. The idea of a predictable “normal” no longer exists. Economies shift. Demographics change. Government policies evolve. The backbone of local economies (small businesses) must evolve too.

Today’s policymakers, social commentators, and lobbyists talk endlessly about housing, urban development, and inequality. Too often, they overlook the small business owners whose work gives neighbourhoods their character and stability. These entrepreneurs may seem small, but their impact runs deep. They needed support, not sympathy. The Small Business Anti-Displacement Network stepped into that gap.

The organization connects: financial, technical, local, and federal assistance agencies to tackle the biggest threat facing small businesses: soaring commercial rents. It also creates space to confront the broader inequalities that leave immigrant- and minority-owned businesses especially vulnerable. This work recognizes that displacement rarely happens by accident. It follows patterns of exclusion, speculation, and unchecked development.

The network focuses on what hurts small businesses most. Access to capital remains limited. Commercial leases often favour landlords. Zoning rules ignore lived realities. Private ownership can shut out long-standing businesses overnight. Rather than treating these issues in isolation, the organization views neighbourhoods as socio-commercial ecosystems. When predatory pressures appear, it plans for survival and resistance.

Developers often pour resources into new commercial zones while ignoring a basic question: who will shop there? Businesses need nearby residents to survive. Communities need local businesses to remain livable. Sustainable development demands equal attention to commercial and residential priorities.

Today, more than 180 organizations belong to this growing network. Members share seminars, education, research, and advocacy across the system. The goal remains difficult, but achievable: help neighbourhoods function in displaced economies where rising costs push out the very businesses that built the community.

Through local and national connections, the organization communicates with, challenges, and confronts private, or corporate threats when necessary. It addresses gentrification and corporate takeovers openly, and it pursues legal action when required. Community organizations bring landlord and developer missteps into public view, where accountability begins.

The network’s greatest strength lies in its members. Collective action drives real change. Small businesses can thrive (and multiply) through shared research, solid management practices, and practical financial guidance. Since its founding, the organization has attracted support from allied industries and governments across North America.

A small business is only insignificant if it accepts that label. Strong plans, smart alliances, and collective power point toward a future where local economies remain rooted, resilient, and alive.