In an effort to revive its neighborhoods, Detroit is offering 200 free and and reduced-priced homes to police officers living outside the city limits. So far fewer than a dozen officers’ families have decided to move in. Can a program like this be enough to bring Detroit back?

On MSNBC, Melissa Harris-Perry says the program is “brilliant” and serves as a model for local governments across the country. When cities value public sector employees, she argues, and encourage them to live in their communities, they get a better tax base, better neighborhoods and more effective policing. 

—Kevin Donohoe