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John C. Whitehead Foundation To the Editor - The Post's excellent series on where immigrants choose to settle in the D.C. area raises an interesting question: What happens when they go there? (See, for example, "Immigration In, Settling Out," April 25.) Last year, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution did a study of just that question entitled "There Goes the Neighborhood - Up." The study compared changes in immigration levels with the corresponding rise or fall in property values for 192 Census Department tracts over the 18-year period from 1980 to 1998. The results were instructive. The ten tracts that enjoyed the largest increase in the share of foreign-born persons in the population from 1980 to 1990 enjoyed an 11.4 percent relative increase in property values (compared to the D.C. average) from 1980 to 1998, while areas with largest decrease in foreign-born residents saw relative property values decrease by 9.9 percent. This effect was visible in downtown, "urban" neighborhoods such as Adams Morgan and North Georgetown (which gained immigrants and gained relative value) and Anacostia (which lost immigrants and lost value) as it was for the far suburbs. In fact, it was strongest within the District, and somewhat weaker, though still present, in the suburbs. This suggests that immigrants still serve a vital function as a kind of human urban renewal program. It's further evidence - as if more were needed - that the United States as a country, and the District as a city, should encourage refugees and immigrants to settle here. Such policies are not merely generous. They're in our self-interest. John Whitehead |
