By Eugene Lowe and Jocelyn Bogen
July 14, 2008

The Vacant and Abandoned Property Task Force reviewed the 2008 Survey on Vacant and Abandoned Properties on June 22 and discussed the potential federal responses to vacant and abandoned properties.

The survey was completed by 42 cities and examined the impact of the mortgage foreclosure crisis on the already-existing problems of vacant and abandoned properties. The survey found the number of vacant and abandoned properties had increased over the past year in seven out of ten survied cities, and that the crisis had affected the ability to manage problem properties in well over half of the cities. Over half of the mayors in the survey rated the foreclosure problem in their cities as serious or very serious.

In addition to the survey results, mayors from across the country provided Best Practices of their most successful strategies and initiatives to combat problem properties. The 2008 Best Practices feature a variety of abandoned property strategies — preempting the problem by preventing abandonment in the first place; inventorying and gaining control of the properties in order to minimize the problems they create; and fostering the reuse of the properties for the benefit of the neighborhood and the city as a whole. These Best Practices range from comprehensive citywide strategies and initiatives that employ numerous remedies, to examples of programs that are effective in attacking a single aspect of the problem. The report containing both the survey results and the Best Practices is available on the Conference of Mayors website: http://usmayors.org/vacantproperties/VacantandAbandonedProperties08.pdf

Louisville Mayor Jerry E. Abramson gave an overview of Louisville’s Vacant Property Prevention and Re-Use Strategy, and the Louisville Foreclosure Prevention Initiative. This initiative uses Metro United Way’s 2-1-1 hotline as the central resource to connect distressed borrowers with professional counselors and, ultimately, their lenders. To date, the initiative has resulted in 1,600 calls being placed. Through the efforts of certified counselors from the Housing Partnership, Inc. and the Louisville Urban League, callers have received guidance and, where appropriate, referral to the Mortgage Assistance Program of the Louisville Metro Department of Housing and Family Services. On May 12, the initiative opened a foreclosure counseling office that is funded, in part, by a $1 million NeighborWorks grant to the Housing Partnership, Inc. The Louisville Metro strategy involves the use of several other tools: Louisville/Jefferson County Landbank Authority, Inc.; Abandoned Urban Property Tax; Vacant Properties Program; and, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

New Britain (CT) Mayor Timothy Stewart presented approaches and techniques that mayors in hard-pressed urban areas can utilize to stimulate redevelopment and an overall revitalization of their communities. Stewart’s presentation focused on his city, a community that exemplifies industrial decline and an emerging revitalization based on strategic repositioning.

Commissioner Jeffrey J. Starkey of Wilmington (DE) gave a presentation on Wilmington’s Instant Ticketing Program that allows city code enforcement inspectors to issue instant $50 ticket, similar to a parking ticket, upon property owners who violate the city’s sanitation codes. Code enforcement inspectors are assigned and patrol a specific geographic region of the city, and are provided with digital cameras with which to photograph sanitation code violations. Wilmington code allows property owners 21 calendar days in which to appeal the violation. If the ticket has not been paid within 30 calendar days, the ticket doubles to $100. Should the property owner decide to disregard a ticket, the city attaches any unpaid fines to the owner’s annual property tax bill.

Ali Solis, Vice President, Public Policy and Industry Relations, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. told the mayors that her organization estimates that 44.5 million homes across the nation sit adjacent to subprime foreclosures. Each of those homes, she said, could lose $5,000 in value. Solis briefed the mayors on Congressional legislation that would address the problem by providing $4 billion in neighborhood stabilization funds. This money would allow communities to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed homes. Solis told the mayors that nearly all communities would have some foreclosures and see a significant decrease in property values. She urged the mayors to call their Congressional representatives to support the legislation.