America’s hottest growth cities and states are facing challenges as they deploy resources to handle the recent pickup of domestic and international immigration to the South and West. US Census data show that Texas and Florida showed a net gain of almost 1 million residents in 2022; they and the rest of the ten fastest-growing states added a total of 1.6 million people. Will this influx help keep these states out of recession? What are the budgetary demands on infrastructure, housing, public safety, education, and the environment, and how will governments tap into recent federal infrastructure legislation?
Our panel of experts includes Mayor Steve Adler, former mayor, Austin, Texas; Alex Adams, budget director, Idaho; Matthew D. Chase, chief executive officer and executive director, National Association of Counties; Darryl Martin, county administrator, Dallas County, Texas; and Anna Roach, chief executive officer and executive director, Atlanta Regional Commission.
Notable Quotes:
“What our approach has been is to assume that a lot of it is one time in nature, so our revenue forecast projects that we’ll have about $5.5 billion in ongoing revenue and we’ve structured our ongoing expenses at $5.1 billion.” - Alex Adams
“We built more houses per capita last year than any city in the country and it still wasn’t enough. We’re going to have to do a better job with the land development codes so that we can build more densely and higher in our main community areas within the city.” - Mayor Steve Adler
“What we’re also finding is the areas of the country that are really growing tend to be the suburban or exurban areas around these major metropolitan areas. And we’re really starting to see real tension between deploying new clean energy, like solar and wind farms, versus housing development versus agricultural land.” - Matt Chase
“We’ve seen a 4% reduction in homelessness this year but we are experiencing an increase in homelessness among our veterans, our youth and our families which I believe is due in part due to the housing affordability crisis.” - Darryl Martin
“We are doing innovative things like developing a new concept called Aerotropolis Atlanta that has been successful and has been in the works for many years and it’s been in operation for several years.” - Anna Roach
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Special Briefing is published by the Volcker Alliance, as part of its Public Finance initiatives, and Penn IUR. The views expressed on this podcast are those of the panelists and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Volcker Alliance or Penn IUR.