Preferring a Vacant Lot

Like many cities in America, St. Paul, Minnesota, is suffering from a severe shortage of affordable housing. And, as happens in many cities across the nation, some neighborhood groups in St. Paul are opposing a project that would provide homes for 144 low-income families. Opponents to the project would prefer a vacant lot rather than more housing.

The land where the proposed project would be built has long stood empty. It is serving no useful purpose to anyone. The developer wants to build a 288-unit apartment building—half of which will be set aside for low-income families. But this isn’t good enough for the opponents. They fear that the project will speed up gentrification in the area, raise property values, and ultimately displace long-time residents. They would rather have a vacant lot than the $57 million investment that would improve their neighborhood.

By the standard of the neighborhood groups, any development that causes change or disruption should be opposed. In this case, change means a substantial investment in a neighborhood that desperately needs it. But the neighborhood groups want a vacant lot rather than a change that might improve their impoverished community.

The neighborhood in question has become increasingly popular. Without this project, wealthier individual wanting to move to the neighborhood can easily outbid current residents for the available housing. This will create the displacement that the opponents fear. However, if the project is completed, new residents can move to the neighborhood without displacing anyone. But such points are of little concern to those who prefer a vacant lot over more housing.

As Thomas Jefferson wrote in a much different context, “all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” Many residents of impoverished neighborhoods prefer to suffer rather than right themselves by accepting a change to that to which they are accustomed. To such people, a vacant lot is preferable to a new apartment building.