Identify new solutions and target existing resources in disinvested areas

While the proposed TRA program would help direct resources to disinvested areas, their unique challenges require a coordinated set of solutions. Many current drivers of disinvestment are structural — owing to historical federal or state policy or to private sector investment strategies — and are so persistent as to require regional scale solutions. Previous CMAP tax policy research has highlighted the benefits of reforming state tax policy while ensuring continuation of state support for local governments and phasing out property tax classification in Cook County to improve fiscal outcomes for municipalities with low tax bases or with poor fiscal conditions.^{{{Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, “Property Tax Burden in the Chicago region,” November 28, 2017 Property tax burden in the Chicago region.}}} The federal government has recently created opportunity zones as one option to promote new investment.^{{{U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Opportunity Zones”, 2018, https://www.cdfifund.gov/Pages/Opportunity-Zones.aspx.}}} New federal, state, and regional solutions will be required to overcome persistent lack of private capital and market-driven investment in these communities.

In other cases, the solutions will be more local, leveraging best practices and new partnerships. New research and best practice development could offer guidance on successful implementation of fast-track demolition programs, or assess available federal, state, or county incentives for utility in disinvested areas. One area for substantial work is land banking. Land banks bring important skills to address the vacancy and abandonment prevalent in disinvested areas. South Suburban Land Bank Development Authority and the Cook County Land Bank Authority were formed to mitigate the effects of concentrated vacancies of residential, commercial, and industrial property. All of work within disinvested areas must be rooted in active and continual engagement of residents of EDAs and disconnected areas.