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Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is in Indianapolis Thursday to get a first-hand look at the historic P.R. Mallory industrial building on the East side of the city, which is set to undergo a three-year renovation to prepare the facility for a new life as Purdue Polytechnic High School. The project is partially made possible via a grant through a federal program that provides funding for the revitalization of areas in so-called “Opportunity Zones.”
“It’s a wonderful program because it was created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and it invites people to invest unrealized capital gains in the places that have been long neglected,” Secretary Carson explained in a Thursday morning interview with WIBC Tony Katz.
Carson said existing plans for the P.R. Mallory industrial site had been in place previously, but a lack of funding prevented the project from moving forward. The creation of new tax incentives in 2017 that encourage investment in federal Opportunity Zones ultimately provided $36 million for the P.R. Mallory renovation to proceed.
Carson said grants for Opportunity Zones in conjunction with the recent expansion of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program help encourage investment from the private sector as well, which reduces the financial burden on the government. As a result, the program is averaging an investment of $15 private sector dollars for every $1 dollar of investment from the Federal government, Carson told Katz.
“[So] we don’t have to increase the amount of Federal dollars every year,” explained Carson. “Because now you’ve got the private sector, who has a vested interest in making sure that you maintain that property in the right manner so that their income stream remains steady.”
The Secretary also discussed with Tony Katz the type of projects that qualify for grants in Opportunity Zones.
Click the link below to hear Tony’s full interview with Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson.
