This article discusses changes to the Opportunity Zone program, its permanence, how we can positively affect change, and how to get your organization’s voice heard.
Published on Shelterforce.com, written by Frank Woodruff (Executive Director, Community Opportunity Alliance) and Jeremy Carter (Senior Director of Programs, NALCAB)
Article Excerpt:
Let’s be honest: Many of us in community development gave up on the Opportunity Zones program. Launched with fanfare in 2017, the program delivered highly frustrating outcomes. It offered generous tax incentives for private investors but no affordability requirements, no community benefit standards, and little transparency about where capital was going or what it was doing when it got there. In some communities, the OZ designation didn’t just attract investment; it accelerated displacement.
We said all of this—loudly—and we weren’t wrong.
But Congress responded. Last year’s reconciliation bill included many negative provisions, but changes to the OZ program offer a silver lining. The program is now permanent and, importantly, incorporates changes advocates have long sought. These changes don’t fix everything, but they matter.
One thing about OZs has always been true: they are neither inherently good nor bad; they are tools. And tools work best when people who know their community are at the table. The question has never been whether private capital will show up; it’s whether community development organizations can shape what happens when it does.
Now is the time to make sure we are at the table.