The Economic Benefits of Historic Preservation

The Economic Benefits of Historic Preservation

There are lots of reasons why historic preservation is important. Many of the most important speak to quality of life issues (and will be the topic of a future blog post). But there are hard-core economic benefits as well. Bottom line: preservation is good business.

 Jobs, Jobs, and More Jobs

When people argue that preservation is good for the economy, the first thing they point to is job creation. There is no question but that historic preservation is a job-creating engine.

Most of the studies that make this point do so within a very limited scope. They tend to focus on the number of jobs created by the act of rehabilitation itself. While those jobs are certainly real – and important – there are other ways to think about job creation.

A community that invests in historic preservation will reap the rewards in terms of increased economic activity across a variety of sectors, beginning with tourism. Heritage tourism is a major source of income for communities that work to exploit their historic resources. Tourists bring dollars that are spent in a variety of businesses and result in increased tax revenue.

All of that creates jobs.

 Green and Sustainability

We all hear about the importance of going green, the benefits of sustainability. Recycling is a sure ticket into heaven. Seriously what could be a better example of recycling than the rehabilitation of an historic structure? Historic preservation is by definition green.

Everyone with an old house has heard people criticize them for being energy inefficient. The truth is that an appropriately rehabbed historic building is not significantly less efficient than a newer structure. Also, it takes 15 to 30 times the amount of energy to build a home than is consumed in its annual operation. Historic houses have long ago embodied the energy expended during their construction and are now in the lesser-use phase of their life cycle.

 Property Values

Investment in historic rehabilitation revitalizes established neighborhoods. Preservation of older buildings increases the property values in the neighborhood. There is truth to the saying that a neighborhood is only as strong as its weakest structure.

Blight costs money. It brings with it crime and a significantly decreased tax base. Unrehabilitated homes create neighborhoods that no one wants to live in. That means that if you want to sell your house in such a neighborhood you are going to have a tough time of it.

There are lots of reasons why communities should invest in historic preservation and we’ll be exploring many of them in coming posts. But to be very practical about it: historic preservation is good for a community’s bottom line.

What other ways can you think of that historic preservation makes good business sense? Reach out to us at historicstjoefoundation@gmail.com, Follow us on Facebook, Twitter https://twitter.com/HStJoeF, and Pinterist https://www.pinterest.com/historicstjosep/