As opposed to targeting individual properties and individual owner, the City of Detroit is taking a different, and aggressive approach challenging the overall philosophy of “Invest & Neglect”. In addition to the three complaints inREAD MORE
West Virginia Takes Aim at Blight
Several bills have been introduced into the West Virginia Legislature. Interesting about the first one, there is no indication where local governments will receive funding for this initiative. House Bill 4097 ” requiring municipalities to maintainREAD MORE
New York State Addresses Senate’s Report on Code Enforcement
Back in August 2019, we discussed the NYS Senate report that found a systemic failure to prioritize code enforcement at all levels of government. Following up on that report, a series of bills have beenREAD MORE
Productive Use Strategies
Non-Profit Partnerships “One strategy in particular is making a resurgence: the reuse of uninhabited and abandoned properties for low-income affordable homeownership.” This quote comes from a recent article in NPQ (Non-Profit Quarterly). The article discussesREAD MORE
Unintended Consequences?
A recent article discusses amendments to a “VPRO” that now require “owners’ names and contact information be displayed on placards outside houses on the vacant building registry.” This approach, though clearly well intended, brings upREAD MORE
Changing Landscape – House Hacking
Whether it was Zillow or Roofstock, the short-term rental market, the constantly rotation of mortgage servicers, or most recently entities like Fleq and Divvy, the landscape of who owns or who occupies properties in yourREAD MORE
Rental Registry Proves Successful
A recent article in the Dayton Daily News discusses the successes of their rental registry/inspection program. Some of the results include; Rental property violations dropped by more than half, in the past two years. FinesREAD MORE
New York State Cities for Responsible Investment and Strategic Enforcement (Cities RISE) Program
As previously reported, in July 2019 New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced $9 million in grants to address the growing statewide issue of “zombie homes” – vacant or abandoned homes that are notREAD MORE
Dallas Task Force on Safe Communities Report
During the Summer of 2019, following increased gun violence and tragedies that took the lives of children, Mayor Eric Johnson announced the creation of the Mayor’s Task Force on Safe Communities. The Task Force receivedREAD MORE
Virginia Seeks to Increase Fines for Derelict Buildings
On December 18th 2019, Delegate Ibraheem Samirah D – Counties of Fairfax (part) and Loudoun (part) 86th District has introduced HB 150 into the Virginia Legislature. Per the Summary “Allows certain localities to impose aREAD MORE
A4403/S1864 “Relates to the redemption of real property subject to a delinquent tax lien”
On December 20th 2019, A4403/S1864 was signed by the Governor. From a recent report in the Times Union, “The new law allows for tax foreclosing entities to foreclose on residential properties that are determined toREAD MORE
Pennsylvania’s Fight Against Blight
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf has made the fight against blight a focus of his administration. In a recent press release the Department of Community and Economic Development highlights funding in Northwest PA that will focus on rehabilitatingREAD MORE
