How Can Municipalities Confront the Vacant Property Challenge?


Ellen Sahli of the City of Chicago Department of Community Development discusses options for municipalities dealing with vacant property problems. With Dan Klaff of BPI, Carrol Roark of DuPage County Community Development, and Rich Monocchio of the City of Chicago Department of Buildings. 
 
"How Can Municipalities Confront the Vacant Property Challenge?" will help municipalities address a crisis that is almost without precedent.  As they struggle through the worst foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression, municipalities face an enormous increase in the number of vacant properties. In some communities, a few vacant properties with overgrown lawns and an accumulation of trash cause problems for neighbors.  In others, troubled buildings attract scavengers, squatters, and gangs and lead to an increase in crime and a decrease in property values. And in some communities with many foreclosed properties, the crisis threatens to doom the entire neighborhood to a cycle of disinvestment and decay. A cluster of vacant properties can destabilize a block.  A cluster of troubled blocks can destabilize a neighborhood. 
 
This introductory guide provides a brief overview of nine tools that have proven most effective as municipalities have worked to reduce the negative impact of vacant properties, stabilize neighborhoods, and promote healthy and vibrant neighborhoods. It is intended to help municipalities begin to determine which programs and policies are most appropriate for them.  A companion guidebook, "How Can Municipalities Confront the Vacant Property Challenge? A Toolkit", will be released shortly. It will help municipalities develop and implement these programs and policies, providing more detailed information about how to put these tools into use.  The Toolkit also discusses best practices and provides links to additional resources.
 

Here are a few of the tools highlighted in the guide:

  • An Early Warning Database, which a municipality can use to identify at-risk properties and take action before a problem grows or gets out of control;
  • A Vacant Property Registry, which a municipality can use to motivate owners to maintain buildings and return them to productive use, as well as defray the costs of providing related municipal services; and
  • Recovering the Costs of Property Maintenance, which helps a municipality to maintain vacant properties when an owner can’t be found and ultimately get paid back for the work it did to stabilize the property and the neighborhood.

 

Read "How Can Municipalities Confront the Vacant Property Challenge?"
 
 

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