Not quite. But OZ areas contiguous with non-OZ territory in certain cities ARE being captured for gentrification through the tax concessionary program.
It was primarily driven by median income in census tracts: below the threshold and the census tract was in; above, and the tract didn’t qualify. The Treasury just validated the qualification of the tracts advanced by the governors.
The fundamental failing lies in the qualification of territory for OZ treatment; but like most matters governmental thinking was sacrificed to bureaucratic expediency. The program has principally developed by leveraging anomalies of geography and demography. It’s become a money making opportunity for big real estate investors, rather than its expressed purpose: revitalizing communities.