Quote:
Originally Posted by SIGSEGV
Honestly we could accommodate 100,000 Syrian or Rohingya or whatever refugees pretty easily if not for the ludicriously small refugee cap.
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Pete Buttigieg has proposed a program where immigrants would be allowed in legally if they settle in depopulated Rust Belt zones. It doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of passing Congress, but should such a program be allowed, Chicago would easily be the biggest beneficiary since we have the largest, most robust job market in the Rust Belt - immigrants could easily find jobs in the more economically vibrant parts of the city/suburbs and still have a reasonable commute.
IMO the flipside to having so much vacancy is that the city has enough land/housing supply to meet demand for decades. This means housing costs are way cheaper than in constrained coastal cities.
Really the city should focus on easing demographic transitions across the city, but nobody wants to admit that their community will inevitably be dissolved by the natural churn of population in cities. Housing in neighborhoods like Englewood should be mothballed until such time as market demand allows for a full renovation and re-occupation. I know, easier said than done, but the technology should exist now to secure buildings properly and monitor them electronically for break-ins at low cost. This does nothing about the natural decay of buildings or the need for re-investment, of course... the roof is still going to start leaking eventually, the brick will still crumble and need repointing, etc.