A recent article discusses possible changes in Minneapolis to their VBR program and its fee. One primary change would be moving the annual $7,087 fee to a monthly fee. “…inspection citations would start at $250READ MORE
White House Initiative: Converting Commercial Properties to Residential Use
The White House has announced new actions to increase the supply of affordable housing through the support of converting high-vacancy commercial buildings to residential use. Actions include: Sparking Investment through New Federal Funding and RepurposingREAD MORE
CCP The Resident’s Workbook for Dealing with Vacant Buildings and Lots
The Center for Community Progress has released its “Resident’s Workbook for Dealing with Vacant Buildings and Lots”. The workbook offers tools and worksheets including; Ideas for how to get involved in community revitalization whether you’reREAD MORE
25 Year Fight to Remove Junked Vehicles
A recent article in Legal Intelligencer discusses a court ruling and its aftermath where one municipality has fought a decades long battle over operation of a junkyard in violation of its zoning ordinance. Attorneys BlaineREAD MORE
Collecting on Blight Fines – New Approach from North of the Border
Frustration (and more) with derelict property owners who rack up high penalties (as in this recent example of $131 MILLION DOLLARS) often results in several approaches. Some traditional (i.e. lawsuit) and some creative. Some comeREAD MORE
Creative Partnerships – Tool Bank USA
A recent article discussing the challenges facing Birmingham AL also focused on an upcoming creative partnership. “Soon under a new city partnership will give churches, neighborhoods and other organizations access tools to get the jobREAD MORE
“Mule Addresses” – Criminologists explain how vacant properties serve as depots for illegal online purchases
Once again, another reason not to publicize vacant property lists. Though the criminal element may just use properties listed for sale (which need to be publicized), these properties have better solutions to avoid the (newlyREAD MORE
Model Ordinance on Proactive Rental Inspection
In 2014, ChangeLab Solutions released a “Model Ordinance on Proactive Rental Inspection”. On Sept 18th, 2023 a new version was released. For a copy of MuniReg’s model ordinance for a Vacant/Abandoned/Foreclosure Registry, please email [email protected]READ MORE
“How Rochester (NY) plans to fix problem housing”
In June 2022, the city’s Housing Quality Task Force released a report including its list of final recommendations. A recent article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle discusses the latest progress report from the City.READ MORE
Macro and Micro Strategies to Fight Blight
Recently two large cities announced new strategies to address blight, one creating a city-wide collaborative while the other focuses on specific requirements for the security of vacant properties. Vacancy Strategy Initiative St. Louis Community DevelopmentREAD MORE
Raising Property Values to Combat Vacancies
Several communities have implemented a “vacant property tax”. In what appears to be a similar objective, Bernalillo County (NM) Assessor is taking a new approach “revaluing properties, not based on how their characteristics at thatREAD MORE
H.B. 859 Denying Permits to LLCs
A well intentioned bill may have some loopholes. Hopefully they will be addressed properly prior to enactment. Definitely a step in the right direction. In a recent article discussing the subject Bill, there were someREAD MORE