Historic Preservation as the Enemy of Diversity

Emily Washington begins the article by referencing the current debate about whether the historic preservation tax credit will survive tax reform efforts, tentatively scheduled for 2015. Acknowledging the arguments of preservationists exemplified by Jane Jacobs, who famously argued that old buildings are an essential part of an "vigorous" city, Washington makes a dissenting claim:

However, both Jacobs and preservationists today fail to acknowledge that the cities and neighborhoods where preservation is strongest have uniformly high rents and low diversity because preservation efforts have led to insufficient building supply. Jacobs contrasted preservation with government-led urban renewal efforts relying on eminent domain to raze and reconstruct entire blocks and neighborhoods. She correctly points out that the resulting new construction would be more expensive than protecting old buildings from eminent domain. But this is a false dichotomy.

Washington's argument is that historic preservation policies have led to increased costs in neighborhoods like New York’s Greenwich Village and Boston’s North End, which are now so expensive as to be far from the ideals espoused by Jacobs.