On February 10th, Senate Bill 42 was introduced into the State Legislature and assigned to the Economic Development Committee. If enacted, a municipality could commence legal action to compel a mortgage foreclosure to expedite theREAD MORE
Pennsylvania House Bill 372
On February 3rd HB 372 was introduced and referred to the Committee of Urban Affairs. HB 372 is titled “An Act providing for foreclosed property maintenance; imposing powers and duties on the Department of CommunityREAD MORE
Shelby County Environmental Court Facing Federal Lawsuit
In 1983, the City of Memphis created the Shelby County Environmental Court, a new division of City Court to handle violations of its health, fire, building, and zoning codes. In 1991, the Tennessee Legislature createdREAD MORE
Good Intententions……Lien Assignment Program
A recent article in the Herald Democrat discusses a four month old program that “is probably on life support”. The program allowed Denison TX to put municipal liens on vacant properties up for sale. CityREAD MORE
Tuscaloosa Silo Busting Anti-Blight Initiative
City of Tuscaloosa & The University of Alabama-Culverhouse College of Commerce & Business Admin have developed a new patent-pending camera-based system to streamline the battle against deteriorating properties. This system involves cameras mounted on cityREAD MORE
Neighborhood Homes Investment Act
The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act has been re-introduced in the Senate as S. 98. Bipartisan legislation titled The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act calls for the creation of a new federal tax credit that will produceREAD MORE
Creative Strategies for Increasing Commercial Vacancies
Two communities recently announced specific strategies to address an increase in commercial vacancies. Brookhaven NY “Floating Zones” The redevelopment districts are what planning officials call a “floating zone” that can be superimposed on a specificREAD MORE
Capturing Insurance Proceeds to Prevent Property Abandonment
Macon-Bibb (GA) commissioners will consider a new resolution to combat blight in their community. The purpose of the resolution is “to request state legislation or administrative action to allow local governments to capture insurance proceedsREAD MORE
NY S1579 Property Maintenance By Banks
Though New York State Dept. of Financial Services has strict guidance pertaining to requirements to maintain vacant properties additional legislation continues to be introduced. S1579 was referred to the Housing, Construction & Community Development CommitteeREAD MORE
PA House Bill 160 Providing for Municipal Permit Denial
As outlined in the below Memo, Rep. Gerald Mullery (D) 119th District has introduced HB 160 designed to close an important loophole that is negatively impacting local communities and hindering blight mitigation efforts. For additionalREAD MORE
Where Transparency is Prudent
Open data and transparency regarding vacant and abandoned properties can result in unintended circumstances. However when discussing rental properties the benefits far outweigh the risks. As discussed in a recent Washington Post article, often rentersREAD MORE
Residential Renovation Incentive Program
The City of Denison recently publicized a new program. This is not “just a one and done” incentive, but a comprehensive program with various incentives along the way. Having the program is the main victoryREAD MORE
