For many years there was a tax break called enterprise zones that was supposed to help the poor. It didn't. Republicans decided it didn't work because it wasn't generous enough so they enlarged it and created opportunity zones. It still doesn't help the poor, only the rich.
See here: nytimes.com/2020/01/15/bus… Here's a paper I wrote on how enterprise zones didn't work. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
A place-oriented policy is doomed to fail because you can easily push people out. The place may become richer, but the people who used to live there are still poor, just living somewhere else.
The purpose of enterprise or opportunity zones is not to help the poor but to have a tax cut that looks like it is helping the poor, thus giving Republicans PR that will make their voters feel less guilty about helping the rich.
When all the poor people are pushed out because their apartments were torn down to make room for luxury high-rises, Republicans point to the new buildings with pride. But you never see any of the former residents at their self-congratulatory events.
African American mayors go along with this charade because their tax base is enlarged and maybe there are some spillover benefits that might actually help the poor. But the economic impact on them is small at best. The critique of urban planning in the 1960s still applies.
Read Jane Jacobs.
