Return on Investment: The Mixed Balance Sheet of Community Development Research

Authors

Carolina Reid, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

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December 1, 2008

In addition to grappling with the turmoil in the financial markets and the economic slowdown, one of the critical questions confronting the new administration will be how best to address the challenges facing low-income communities. The current mortgage crisis threatens to reverse the past two decades of neighborhood reinvestment, as communities across the country are reeling with the negative spillover effects from concentrated foreclosures, including abandoned homes and storefronts, declining municipal budgets and attendant cuts in social programs, and the loss of jobs associated with economic decline.