Shaping the Opportunity Zone map to drive housing production that best meets community need

Dear Colleagues and Partners,

The upcoming Opportunity Zone designations have the power to shape the next decade of private investment in America’s historically marginalized urban and rural neighborhoods, with over 30 million residents living in 24,000+ eligible census tracts and potentially tens of billions of dollars at stake. In order to take advantage, communities need to prepare now, identifying where potential OZs overlap with existing community projects and priorities and reaching out to their governors who will select the specific census tracts that will qualify as OZs.

Accelerator for America (AFA) has a strong history of work in Opportunity Zones. During the initial round of OZs, AFA was instrumental in helping 59 cities prepare a prospectus to encourage targeted investment and ensure communities could make the most of the federal incentive. This experience taught us that OZs have the potential to drive economic development, particularly housing development, in disadvantaged communities but only if local leaders act intentionally to connect the program to community development priorities.

Building on this foundational work, AFA was pleased to join researchers from the Urban Institute and NRDC in publishing “Shaping the Opportunity Zone Map to Drive Housing Production That Best Meets Community Need.” This primer provides initial guidance on the steps communities should be taking today to prepare for the redesigned OZ program.

As we continue throughout this year, AFA will continue to gather and share resources, along with replicable case studies, to help communities understand this new round of OZs with new rules. Our goal remains to help cities make the most of every opportunity to create greater economic mobility in underserved communities.

Mary Ellen Wiederwohl
President and CEO
Accelerator for America