How Immigrant Neighbors Make You Richer
How Immigrant Neighbors Make You Richer
A newly released research by AS/COA and the Partnership for a New American Economy shows how immigrants revitalize declining communities by contributing to U.S. housing wealth.
Immigrants help stabilize the U.S. housing market and represent trillions of dollars in housing wealth, according to a report released Thursday.
The report found that immigrant homeowners help build up less-popular areas, making real estate investments that eventually draw in more residents.
Jacob Vigdor, a professor of public policy and economics at Duke University and the researcher who compiled the report, said that the trend is happening across the country.
"They've taken what would have been a downward spiral and they've stopped it and reversed it," he said.
The data was compiled by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and the Partnership for a New American Economy. It will be part of a broader report on the economic contributions of immigrants set to be released later this summer.
The groups also put together an interactive map to illustrate how immigrants affect home value on a local level.
"What you get in some of these cities where immigration has come in, is that it basically stops the hemorrhaging of people," Vigdor said. "You take property that had been abandoned and you put it back on the tax rolls...."
