Trump to direct federal agencies to move into ‘Opportunity Zones'

[oladub]

President Trump 'ordered federal agencies to prioritize moving their offices to Opportunity Zones to spur investment in some of the nation's poorest neighborhoods,
The move will apply to all federal agencies and asks that they stop prioritizing city centers and central business districts and instead base themselves in any of the 8,769 low-income communities designated as Opportunity Zones by the Trump administration.
The initiative has driven more than $75 billion in private investment into disadvantaged communities in the two years since it was created."

This could be good for Detroit. The article goes on to say that more expensive downtown development is being discouraged. However, even downtown is classified as an economic development zone in Detroit. Businesses can take advantage of this by being able to move to downtown Detroit unlike the downtowns of other cities.

Map of Detroit's 'Opportunity Zones' https://www.degc.org/wp-content/uplo...nal_2018-1.pdf

[Satiricalivory]

This sounds great and exactly what the country needs. Spread the federal jobs across the US and get them out of DC.

Unfortunately this administration has no credibility to it's word so we will see.

[JonWylie]

This sounds great and exactly what the country needs. Spread the federal jobs across the US and get them out of DC.

Unfortunately this administration has no credibility to it's word so we will see.

I don't really think this means that any agency headquarters will leave DC, just the regional offices. I'm still not exactly sure how this would work or what effect it would have. It's noted as a cost saving measure but I assume the cost of moving and renovating office space in these areas will be pretty high, along with the higher cost of not having centrally located offices.

[iheartthed]

Are there many/any federal agencies in the Detroit area that are not already located in one of the "opportunity zones"?

[Meddle]

Do we really need to spend money on moving offices from functional spaces?

[oladub]

Do we really need to spend money on moving offices from functional spaces?

No, but agencies often have a need to expand their functions. Some functions could be moved to or placed in high unemployment areas. It might be cheaper to build in low rent areas where real estate is less expensive. Putting people to work in high unemployment areas is also cheaper than paying them unemployment or welfare. Detroit also has a lot of under utilized real estate and infrastructure.

[Wesley Mouch]

Do we really need to spend money on moving offices from functional spaces?

President Trump reportedly said 'prioritize', not move now.

[Hypestyles]

if, or when, this occurs, there has to be publicity when the office[[s) open, where they are, and their services provided. We'll see.

[Meddle]

I have to wonder if a certain somebody is buying up property in those areas with the intent to sell or lease to future Fed offices.