Signs of Hope for America's Cities
Presidential campaigns have a way of focusing on what is wrong and who is to blame. Now would be a good time to give some thought to an area where, in fact, considerable progress is being made: America's cities.</br></br>For decades, talk about cities has been dominated by the perception of urban decay and by skepticism about urban policy. But the current reality paints a far more interesting -- and hopeful -- picture of metropolitan opportunity. In the past decade, the population of the nation's 50 largest cities has grown by nearly 10 percent. This was accompanied by a rise in city incomes that was almost double the national average and by an increase in housing units, homeownership and mortgage lending. In the same period, concentrated poverty declined 24 percent and urban crime also decreased.</br></br>Cities are crucial to the U.S. economy. In 2002 metro economies were responsible for 85.6 percent of gross domestic product, almost $9.1 trillion in goods and services. If we look closely at inner cities, usually dismissed as lacking economic vitality, we understand that they, too, possess significant assets. Inner cities are home to 21 million people with purchasing power estimated at $331 billion. The business community is beginning to realize the potential of these communities, and investment has returned to many urban markets, bringing goods, services and job opportunities. What accounts for this progress? How can it be sustained, even accelerated, as we seek healthy cities worthy of the richest country on Earth?</br></br>Several national trends -- such as immigration, population growth and the shift to a services-based economy -- are contributing to the urban renaissance. But another important factor is smart public policy. Over the past 20 years, bipartisan effort has put in place a number of federal programs that are working to stimulate private investment and energize people to take charge of their own destiny. They include the Home Investment Partnership Program, the Community Development Block Grant program, the new-markets tax credit and the earned-income tax credit. Their combined effect has been to help lift millions above the poverty line and into affordable homes.</br></br>But two of the most important, one called HOPE VI and another known as Section 8 housing choice vouchers, were put in danger by reforms proposed in this year's budget. These are programs that have given cities important ways to transform aging public housing ghettos into dynamic mixed-income communities.