Keywords
blight, urban renewal, redevelopment, tax abatement, tax increment financing, TIF, TIF reform, housing
Abstract
This article examines the way municipalities have used increasingly broad interpretations of "blight" to compete for state tax increment financing (TIFs) for economic development purposes. It traces the definition of blight in the context of state and federal urban redevelopment programs from the nineteenth century through the Progressive Era to the advent of TIF laws in the 1980s and 90s. It goes on to discuss the how the concept of "blight" has shifted from a condition of substandard housing to a condition of "sub-optimal" local economic development, in part due to intense competition among municipalities for TIFs. The article concludes that excessively broad state definitions of "blight" and concepts like "future blight" have fueled a "tax grab" and converted TIF laws from tools for eradicating substandard housing conditions to a way for municipalities to "pad the tax base." To combat this effect, the article proposes various TIF law reforms, most significantly the addition of "but for" tests that would prevent municipalities from defining an area as "blighted" unless it is unlikely to receive private investment.
Recommended Citation
Colin Gordon,
Blighting the Way: Urban Renewal, Economic Development, and the Elusive Definition of Blight,
31 Fordham Urb. L.J. 305
(2004).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol31/iss2/2