Damn, I did not expect that city to be Newark.

When I went to Newark 20 years ago the road I was on looked like an abandoned waste land. Today the area has multi level family houses and looks more like a walkable area. Ascetically it looks much better - if it’s really a better place to live I don’t know. It’s likely it needed massive investor cash to rebuild so I’m honestly not surprised.

I went to college in Newark from 2006-2012. Essentially the beginning to the end of the Booker era. Yeah they make a big stink about the new developments and how Newark was "Revitalizing" itself.

Nonsense: It was a dump when I started and was still a dump when I left. The thing is you don't realize it until you have gone to a place that has not had Newark's issues. Only then do you realize how much further they have to go.

I have been wondering about that. I’m not entirely certain of the effects either. Being held by corporate investors should mean they would be divested in certain circumstances, though.

Residences owned by corporations funnel wealth away from the community into the hands of the corporation. Renters also tend not to establish as deep community roots as there's no investment in the house or the neighborhood and they may move.

While on the surface that isn't "bad", when this happens in lower income neighborhoods it siphons what little wealth that is there away.

Additionally, as there's no investment in the house (call up the landlord and have them fix it up... in a while), it also means that the properties in the area tend to decrease in quality and make the homes that are owned occupied less valuable over time... and the community there less cohesive.

All these things together make it harder for people (frequently minorities) living in those areas to improve their lives and that of their children (can't leave a house you rent to your children or grandchildren to help them get a firmer financial footing as they reach adulthood).