Well, I can't speak to your city, but a lot of these blighted neighborhoods are located in what otherwise would be desirable areas: access to transportation (airports), jobs, restaurants/shopping, city parks, etc. I recall some Obama cronies doing this -- expropriating a ghetto and building housing for urban trendsetters in Chicago. The pioneers have various affinities for the amenities and various reasons to care less about the drawbacks. Plus you can sell them on it and even if they feel ripped off later when they have kids, caveat emptor. Anyways, as I was alluding to with Obama, one thing that can happen is you displace the whole ghetto (ie blacks) and suddenly the place is nice to live again. If oftentimes a bit besieged by more ghetto.