The Geographic Distribution of Place-based Economic Development Programs and Their Effects on Local Housing in California Cities

Government institutions and community-based organizations have employed place-based economic    development policies to alleviate disadvantage in distressed neighborhoods. Place-based programs, which target specific neighborhoods, typically defined as census tracts, for economic and social reinvestment, have a long tradition in policy intervention work and continue to be a popular strategy, as evidenced by the Opportunity Zones program, a new federal community investment tool designed to drive long-term capital to low-income urban neighborhoods. Reinvestment often comes in the form of affordable housing projects. This presentation will provide an overview of the place-based approach and summarizes the evidence of current research that examines the geographic distribution of place-based programs and their associations with various housing affordability metrics in select California cities.
Dr. Noli Brazil is an Assistant Professor of Community and Regional Development in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California, Davis. His research agenda spans multiple areas of inquiry connected by an interest in understanding the influence of place and space in generating social, economic, and health inequalities. Dr. Brazil holds a PhD in demography from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s of science in   statistics from Stanford University, and held post-doctoral positions at the Center for  Empirical Research on Stratification and Inequality at Yale.