CNN: How immigrants can revive America's blighted neighborhoods

As cities like Detroit and Baltimore struggle to find ways to revitalize their abandoned buildings, a new study has found that immigrants might hold the key to bring new life to blighted neighborhoods.

However, entities that manage distressed properties — called landbanks — have ignored them.

Most Rust Belt cities have more immigrants who could qualify as home buyers, per-capita, than all other demographic groups, according to research unveiled this week by the Fiscal Policy Institute and the Welcoming Economies Global Network, an immigrant-focused economic development group.

“There are thousands of immigrants in the nation’s Rust Belt cities that are potential homeowners and we believe that the folks that deal with distressed real estate have overlooked the opportunity that they represent in their backyard,” said Steve Tobocman, an author of the report.

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