HUD Secretary Ben Carson Visits Bristol, Talks Opportunity Zones

Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe, HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick listen to HUD Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Joe DeFelice.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson visited Bristol Borough to talk about Qualified Opportunity Zones and tour a site primed for redevelopment.

Arriving in a three-SUV motorcade and surrounded by special agents, Carson toured Chestnut and Elm streets with Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, Bristol Borough Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Joe DeFelice.

The officials looked at the U-shaped neighborhood that sits off Jefferson Avenue. Over the years, Bristol Borough has spent about $2 million to purchase the properties one-by-one with the goal of finding a redevelopment solution for the area, which once had so many crime problems that the police department had a unit dedicated to it.

DiGuiseppe told Carson that only a few privately-owned properties remain in the section and one goal is to find a developer interested in the more than 2 acres of land. One hope is that new residences or an assisted living facility to compliment the under-construction Mill Run facility redevelopment will be constructed.

After the site visit, the group traveled the short distance to Bristol Borough Hall and held a roundtable on opportunity zones with multiple stakeholders.

The opportunity zone on a map.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com

A large part of Bristol Township’s Croydon section and Bristol Borough fall in a federal Qualified Opportunity Zone. The zone came from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and gives tax benefits to investors who put their money toward development projects in those zones. HUD officials said the investors can defer taxes on eligible capital gains earned through the projects.

Nationally, there are 8,700 Qualified Opportunity Zone with 300 in the Keystone State.

Carson said Qualified Opportunity Zone can breathe new life into communities and provide new jobs and housing.

While explaining the program, DeFelice touted the success of it in the northwestern Pennsylvania city of Erie. In the past year, Erie’s Qualified Opportunity Zone has brought in $800 million in investment.

“Imagination is the only thing that limits its use,” Carson said of the Qualified Opportunity Zone program.

DeFelice called the Bristol-area zone “ripe for development.”

Carson talked a bit about his background and his upbringing. He said his mother’s strict household rules left him reading a lot of books growing up while other kids were outside.

“That was when I began to open my eyes,” he said of realizing all the potential outside of his Detroit neighborhood.

Prior to coming to Bristol Borough, Carson spoke at the Philadelphia Union League about opportunity zones and announced new incentives for borrowers seeking to rehabilitate homes.