Weak property values, skyrocketing foreclosure rates, and older, deteriorating housing stock exact a toll on municipal tax bases and hinder a community’s ability to provide safe and desirable living conditions for citizens. 

Over the past decade, most of America has enjoyed steady increases in property values and strong economic growth. However, dozens of older cities - primarily concentrated in the former industrial and manufacturing corridors of the Northeast and Midwest - have been plagued by population declines that have resulted in an overstock of housing. Securing and maintaining abandoned structures hinders local resources and threatens regional economic prosperity.

Vacant and abandoned housing has been a blight impacting many older industrial cities for decades. Roundtable discussions and field hearings held throughout the region and organized by the Northeast-Midwest Institute identified the troubling consequences of questionable lending practices and the pending surge in foreclosures years in advance of our nation’s current financial situation. As a result, when legislation was first introduced to create an emergency housing and foreclosure fund, the Northeast-Midwest Institute played a vital role in drafting foreclosure bill language aimed at protecting the interest of economically challenged neighborhoods throughout the weakened industrial corridors. The Institute’s foreclosure analysis and subsequent policy recommendations ensured that communities with a history of foreclosures, vacancy, and abandonment were not overshadowed by the recent surge in foreclosure rates in newer, sprawling, suburban communities.

The Revitalizing Older Cities Initiative acts as the research conduit for legislative concepts that will help bring about housing policies that encourage a return to safe, diverse, walkable, and environmentally conscious neighborhoods.