I’ve been posting off and on for the last couple of years about ways to counter the population loss in some American cities.
That’s a daunting task in some places that saw a couple of decades of white flight and then saw black flight accelerate too.
The key to sustainability for some cities will be either to destroy some of the unneeded housing stock or to find people to fill those currently unoccupied units.
From the NYT’s Ailing Midwestern Cities Extend a Welcoming Hand to Immigrants:
In north Dayton — until recently a post-apocalyptic landscape of vacant, gutted houses — 400 Turkish families have moved in, many coming from other American cities. Now white picket fences, new roofs and freshly painted porches are signs of a brisk urban renewal led by the immigrants, one clapboard house at a time.
“We want to invest in the places where we are accepted better,†said Islom Shakhbandarov, a Turkish immigrant leader. “And we are accepted better in Dayton.â€
Other struggling cities are trying to restart growth by luring enterprising immigrants, both highly skilled workers and low-wage laborers. In the Midwest, similar initiatives have begun in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Lansing, Mich., as well as Detroit, as it strives to rise out of bankruptcy. In June, officials from those cities and others met in Detroit to start a common network.
“We want to get back to the entrepreneurial spirit that immigrants bring,†said Richard Herman, a lawyer in Cleveland who advises cities on ideas for development based on immigration.
These sound like promising trends that could be further fueled by immigration reform.