The Duluth City Council has amended an ordinance in an attempt to jump-start repairs to abandoned housing throughout the community. The revised ordinance is intended to remove a financial obstacle for people looking to redevelopREAD MORE
State, County and Local Collaboration on Brownfield Mitigation
A new agreement in New York State, between state agencies and municipalities in Orleans and Niagara counties will promote the redevelopment of dozens of potentially contaminated properties in the two counties. The agreement allowsREAD MORE
New Mexico – State & Local Collaboration on Abandoned School Buildings
A telling quote from a recent report on Senate Bill 43 underscores the potential value to local governments and its fight against blight. “It’s hard for local districts to place priorities in demolishing those buildingsREAD MORE
GAO Report on “Zombie Foreclosures”
On March 5th, 2021 the US Government Accountability Office released a report titled, “Home Foreclosures Sales: FHA, Rural Housing Service, and VA Could Better Align Program Metrics with Their Missions” Why GAO Did This StudyREAD MORE
West Virginia SB 42 the Zombie Property Reclamation Act of 2021
**Following up on the below post, SB 42 Zombie Property Remediation Act of 2021 has now been signed by the Governor and enacted. To view the final bill language, please click here.** On February 10th,READ 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 Intentions……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