The U.S. Conference of Mayors has created a new mayoral Task Force on Vacant and Abandoned Properties to examine the problems of vacant and abandoned properties in America’s cities.

With support from the Fannie Mae Foundation, the Vacant and Abandoned Properties Task Force has worked with the National Housing Institute on a Mayors’ Resource Guide on Vacant and Abandoned Properties, which spells out the role of mayors in turning abandoned properties into opportunities for their cities.

The guide lays out the elements of an abandoned property strategy – preventing abandonment, gaining control of abandoned properties, and fostering reuse of those properties – as well as describes in detail the steps to be taken to implement the strategy. The guide calls on mayors to use their unique position in city government to provide community leadership, bring governmental and nongovernmental partners together, and advocate for change at the state level where statutes and funding programs shape local abandoned property initiatives.

Earlier this year, the Task Force requested that mayors submit descriptions of the approaches they have taken in their cities to convert vacant and abandoned properties from costly liabilities into productive assets. The information provided has been included in a report entitled Combating Problems of Vacant and Abandoned Properties: Best Practices in 27 Cities, which describes successful, well-established, large-scale efforts in several of the nation’s largest cities, as well as successful efforts underway in mid-size and smaller cities.

At the recent Conference held in Las Vegas, Lisa Maria Mallory-Hodge, Managing Director of Policy and Consulting of the Fannie Mae Foundation, discussed the efforts of the Foundation in its sponsorship of the Task Force. Mallory-Hodge welcomed the task force members and introduced Alan Mallach, author of the Guide. The Fannie Mae Foundation commissioned Mallach to develop the Mayor’s Resource Guide.

Mallach outlined the major sections of the Guide. A key point of the Guide is that mayors can play an important role in turning abandoned properties into opportunities. The Guide instructs mayors to “address the issue in a comprehensive strategy.” Not only should immediate problems be dealt with but there should also be prevention strategies. The Guide says that abandoned properties can be reused in “ways that will serve the city’s long-term economic and community-building goals.”

Mallach discussed the six critical facets of any successful strategy.

1) A viable and efficient information system that retrieves useful data.
2) Abandonment prevention tools, including different strategies to target specific issues.
3) Ability to get control of the property which includes utilizing tax foreclosures or eminent domain dependent on local legislation.
4) Proper internal structure designed to eliminate inter-departmental conflicts.
5) Proper utilization of its resources. An example provided was to adminster grant funds to repair one home on a block of many boarded up homes as opposed to earmarking the funds to a property that is located on an otherwise well kept block.
6) Partnerships with governmental and private entities.

Click here for video clip of Lisa Maria Mallory-Hodge's opening remarks.
Click here for video clip of Alan Mallach's presentation.

Greg J. Davies, Deputy Director, Development Department of Columbus (OH) presented the city’s “Home Again Initiative.” The effort was launched by Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman. The goal is “… to fix up or replace the 3,200 listed vacant homes in Columbus. The initiative has five separate strategies: enforcement, prevention, acquisition, rehabilitation, and demolition.

Click here for video clip of Greg J. Davies presentation

Melissa Barry, Director of Louisville Metro Housing and Community Development, discussed establishing land banks and the city’s “Blight Blusters Initiative.” The Louisville Vacant Property Review Commission has the authority to impose an “abandoned urban property tax” on vacant property owners at three times the regular rate. It has proven to be an effective deterrent to vacant and abandoned property.

Click here for video clip of Melissa Barry presentation

Jeffrey Starkey, Commissioner of Licenses and Inspections of Wilmington DE, presented an overview of the Vacant Property Registration Fee Program. The fees are based on the number of years a property remains vacant. Each year the property is vacant, the fee is increased, starting at $500 in the first year and building up to $5,000 by year 10. After ten years, $500 is added to the fee each year. By March 2006, the program had collected $331,000.
The Mayor's office has partnered with the city council to amend the legislation to allow the unpaid fees to be a lien on the property and to allow the property to be taken to sheriff's sale due to the unpaid fees.

Click here for video clip of Jeffrey Starkey presentation