icon Blueprint for February

Urbania Mania

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4 min read

Call it an exodus, call it a coincidence or call it a meme, but Americans are heading to the cities in the largest numbers since the Industrial Revolution changed a rural society into an urban society at the end of the 19th century.  This latest great migration is from the center of the country towards all the edges.  And it’s not surprising since the cities are beautiful. A month ago, I traveled from my home in beautiful Washington to Boston, Pittsburgh, Charleston and Atlanta and each of them was beautiful in its own quirky way. The mix of new and historically preserved buildings is impressive. And every city now seems to have celebrity chef restaurants, comfortable theaters and music clubs drawing crowds for bands who attract fans by posting on the Internet.

Additional migration momentum seems to have been ignited by the recent recession. People who lost jobs thought they would have better opportunity in the urban centers. And as wages stayed frozen and gas prices soared, there seemed to be a national motif that life would be better (or at least more affordable) without cars.

But while this rush to the cities may provide the excitement of crowds on the streets and the benefit of local tax revenue to governments, it raises the question of where is everyone going to live? As more people want homes, the prices go up. At the same time, if the largest part of this wave is comprised of recent college grads looking for jobs and elders who lost jobs, how are they going to afford urban rent?

Suddenly, there seems to be a new urgency for affordable housing in cities all across the country. In New York and Los Angeles, more affordable housing was a primary theme of the successful mayoral campaigns of Bill DiBlasio and Eric Garcetti. With a U.S. Congress that looks at any proposed expenditure like it just smelled a skunk, responsibility for providing workforce housing has fallen into the laps of the mayors. And they are accepting it. So we sent staff writer Mark Olshaker out to

survey the various programs in various cities (Mayors Drive Affordable Housing,

  1. 16) to show our readers where the opportunities may well lie.

While affordable housing is driven by LIHTC, New Markets and Historic Preservation tax credits are also altering the urban landscape. The success of the conversion of the old Pabst Brewery into housing in Milwaukee has inspired an aggressive urban rebuilding plan utilizing NMTC on a wide range of projects. (Transforming Milwaukee, p.26  ) And all across North Carolina, mills deserted as the tobacco and textile industries looked for cheaper workers overseas have been rehabilitated into both commercial and residential space.  (Goodbye (for now) to North Carolina’s Mill Credit, p. 22 ) We kept staff writer Joel Swerdlow busy this month researching both of these developments.

In this issue, we also introduce a new monthly interview feature (Talking Heads, p.10). Sometimes it’s better to clear the writer out of the way and just listen to the experts ponder. We thought it only fitting to kick this off with a sitdown with Bernie Husser of Richman Capital, who ends his two-year term as NH&RA’s board chair this month. Bernie has led the organization through a time of uncertainty in government with threats to NMTC and historic credits and creation of RAD, but always with his upbeat, determined demeanor. He has been an inspiration and we are indebted to him for his service.

Cities excite me. And I hope they excite you. If so, you’re in for an enjoyable tour.