Financial Aspects of Urban Renewal in the United States

Abstract

Two basic obstacles inhibit the ability of private enterprise to clear blight and rebuild to meet changing needs and functions of United States cities without aid. First, the entrepreneur faces the problem of assembling a number of parcels, under diverse ownerships, in order to create a tract large enough to support efficient, modern development and at the same time withstand the effects of adjacent blight. Second, the cost is tremendously high. The acquisition costs to a private developer often reflect inflated, speculative values. They also include the costs of existing structures which, though deteriorating and obsolete, do have an economic value that becomes a significant item of cost when they are demolished to make way for new buildings.

Based on: “Report on Urban Renewal” by William L. Slayton, Commissioner, Urban Renewal Administration, before the Subcommittee on Housing, Committee on Banking and Currency, U. S. House of Representatives, November 21, 1963.