I see the exact same thing going on in the UK. In my district in Norwich the local (parish) council (who is headed by my SO's grandpa in fact) are a bunch of seniors who have grouped together and fought every large-scale housing development plans for decades, ever since I was born.

I've talked to my SO's grandpa about this in fact just last week. He was telling me how after over 40 years in a council, one thing he is sure of is the affluent's hatred, fear and/or disgust for the poor.

It's happend since the dawn of time. The rich want to stay away from the poor. Generally I hate the idea, and all it does is seggregate, breed hate, and create ever higher barriers to social mobility.