But Springfield’s fortunes seem to be improving: New housing is beginning to pop up across the city, businesses are reopening, and downtown Springfield is bustling with activity even after dark.
Jones credits some of this recovery to Haitians and other immigrants.
“I see jobs now that weren’t there before,” she said. “It makes me happy to see something happening in my community again.”
Boom, bust and boom again
Springfield has been in the spotlight recently for unusual reasons, but in many ways the city represents a national trend: once-thriving cities still undergoing a renaissance, a phenomenon felt across the Midwest since the 1980s.
New prosperity and subsequent population growth means strains on local infrastructure, health care, and schools.
According to the city of Springfield, between 12,000 and 15,000 Haitians fleeing political turmoil and violence in their home country have come to the United States in the past five years under a federal humanitarian immigration program. Others are in the U.S. on tourist visas or green cards.
“A lot of them were professionals — doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers — you name it,” says Sophia Pierre, an immigrant advocate who left Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, about 20 years ago. “Culture shock happens to Americans and Haitians alike.”
Jims Dennis moved to Springfield five years ago after hearing about the low cost of living from his brother, who had immigrated to the city from Haiti, and said he and his family obtained tourist visas through his father, who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti.
Dennis now has a green card that allows him to live and work permanently in the United States, owns three homes in Springfield, two of which he rents out to make extra money, and works two jobs in Springfield as an electronics technician and runs a photography studio, while his wife is in nursing school.
“I came here and worked hard to get what I have,” he said. “I live within my means and I invest, but people think Haitians aren’t smart enough to do what I do.”
When he arrived, he said, Springfield was a “dead town” of ruins and vacant lots. As more people started to move there, he saw an opportunity for Springfield to grow into a place where he and his young family could rebuild their lives.
Until a few weeks ago, Dennis and his wife spent their free time riding their bikes around town or taking their young children to the park. Now, she is afraid to leave the house and is begging her husband to move.
Some in the community would like to see people like Dennis relocate.
Springfield resident Bill Monahan, who helps manage the Facebook page “Stop Immigration to Springfield, Ohio,” said Haitian immigration “has had dire consequences for the working class and the working poor.”
Rents are rising as some landlords see an opportunity to charge rent per person instead of per household, an argument backed by several immigrant advocacy groups and local renters.
Wait times at local medical clinics and the Department of Motor Vehicles have also increased, he said, as have wait times for emergency services.
“There are just too many people at once,” he told NBC News. “People are losing their homes because of the migrants. The roads are becoming dangerous.”
Local officials acknowledge that the sudden arrival of so many immigrants is putting a strain on local services as the city struggles to cope with increased demand for health care and housing.