Asset building as an economic development strategy? It is almost a no-brainer, says St. Louis Park City Manager Tom Harmening. 
According to Harmening, asset building helps to create an inviting community, one in which individuals and families would want to live and create an investment in. It makes perfect sense, but who would have thought that asset building would be an important key in the economic development of a city?
“In the case of our housing stock, people make choices on where they live based on various considerations, one of which is the health of the school district and the community,” says Harmening. “If a community is perceived to be a good place o live and raise a family, there will be a greater incentive to buy homes and want to live and reinvest in that community rather than somewhere else. What that does is increase the stock of our homes, then the value of our homes and the value of our community.”
So far the asset building strategy has been working for St. Louis Park. In the recent housing crisis, with plummeting housing prices and rising foreclosures, property values are much less depressed in St. Louis Park than in many other similar cities across the United States. Could this be related to the strength of the asset-building movement in St. Louis Park? Tom Harmening thinks so.
“If we’re perceived as a healthy school district and a healthy community to raise kids, we’re achieving what we want. I definitely see a link between healthy community, healthy kids, healthy schools and the economic development of a city. ”
Tom Harmening is the City Manager of St. Louis Park. He can be reached by phone at (952) 924-2526
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