Investors are already lining up with billions of dollars committed to use the new Opportunity Zone tax break, and developers are already starting to strike some early deals for Opportunity Zone investments. But by design, there is no centralized process for Opportunity Zones; and there are no requirements that these investments create affordable housing, homeownership, living wage jobs or anything of benefit to current Opportunity Zone residents and businesses. The current legislation includes no federal requirements to disclose who’s using it and where. Nor is there any dollar limit on how much investment the tax break can support.
With few exceptions, right now the only meaningful limits on what developers can build using Opportunity Zone tax breaks are developers’ own ability to convince investors of the returns their projects might deliver — and zoning.
A new study from the Urban Institute, published today, looks at three different cities — Washington, D.C., Cleveland, and Fresno, California — to examine the question of whether the zoning inside their Opportunity Zones already reflects the needs of residents and businesses in those areas.
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OSCAR PERRY ABELLO
JULY 25, 2019