Despite the widely discussed connection between public policy and gentrification, few studies provide systematic empirical evidence regarding the role of federal policies in inducing or supporting neighborhood-level gentrification. This paper tackles this question by examining whether, when, and where federal place-based policies have fueled gentrification and displacement in poor urban neighborhoods. We use novel data on the national spread and scope of federal place-based housing and economic development funding since the 1990s. Preliminary evidence suggests that economic development funding was strongly linked with both income- and housing-value based gentrification, as well as increases in the share non-Hispanic White during the 2000s. In contrast, housing programs were associated with declines in the non-Hispanic White population, and not associated with gentrification. Disentangling historical processes of gentrification and residential displacement, this study addresses whether federal investments invariably lead to residential displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods in the present era of public-private urban policy.