Land Lines October 2018

Photograph shows the side of a blighted building on a city street with crumbling paint

The Hidden Costs of TIF

Reconsidering a Vaunted Economic Development Tool

By Anthony Flint, October 29, 2018

Since its inception in the 1950s, tax increment financing has taken hold across the United States as a popular public-finance mechanism. But critics say this approach favors the private sector, while diverting funds from public schools and other municipal needs.

A man wearing a blue jacket and jeans walks along a paved or graveled pedestrian way

Housing the Homeless

Booming Cities Address the Growing Crisis in Their Streets

By Kathleen McCormick, September 26, 2018

In prosperous U.S. cities, the lack of affordable housing is fueling a homelessness crisis some have called the worst since the Great Depression. Cities are responding in a variety of ways—converting motels in Los Angeles, building tiny home communities in Seattle, and encouraging unusual public-private partnerships in New York City. No place has found the perfect solution, but some are making significant—and instructive—progress.

This issue considers the pitfalls of tax increment financing (TIF)—a popular economic development tool that often falls short of its promise to revitalize struggling neighborhoods; affordable housing solutions for the homeless in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York City; plus 3D-printed houses, scenario planning, land value capture, and more.

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