Every city with neighborhoods in decline and a lack of demand for new investment is faced with the challenge of how to address blight. Each city's challenges are unique, but many are finding new and effective strategies to end the spread of blight.
Emily Badger reports on novel techniques in cities around the country to combat blight—especially the creeping kind of blight that starts small and picks up momentum as it consumes whole blocks and neighborhoods.
Badger introduces a few examples of the blight reduction work from Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Jacksonville before providing in-depth analysis of work by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to clean newly empty lots and maintain exiting ones. "Today, it regularly maintains about 6,500 greened vacant lots, April through October (the program has also created a landscaping industry in the city from scratch). Another 2,100 lots receive care once a month from paid neighbors. Since the start of the program, about 700 lots have gone on to be redeveloped."
All that hard work in Philadelphia has produced a wealth of academic research, listed by Badger, on the benefits of blight reduction programs.
FULL STORY: How cities are starting to turn back decades of creeping urban blight

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Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

HSR Reaches Key Settlement in Northern California City
The state’s high-speed rail authority reached an agreement with Millbrae, a key city on the train’s proposed route to San Francisco.

Washington State Legislature Passes Parking Reform Bill
A bill that would limit parking requirements for new developments is headed to the governor’s desk.

Missouri Law Would Ban Protections for Housing Voucher Users
A state law seeks to overturn source-of-income discrimination bans passed by several Missouri cities.
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