Transcript Urban property abandonment: From Blight to Opportunity

Urban Property Abandonment:
From Blight to Opportunity
KnowledgePlex/Government Innovators Network
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Alan Mallach, FAICP
Research Director
National Housing Institute
609.448.5614
[email protected]
www.nhi.org
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
What is abandonment?
Abandonment =
vacancy + neglect
(a vastly oversimplified but still useful definition)
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
 What properties are abandoned?




Single family residential
Multifamily residential
Commercial
Industrial
 Each type of property is subject to
distinct abandonment ‘triggers’
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
 Where are abandoned properties
found?
 Big cities
 Small cities
 Small towns and rural areas
 Every part of the United States
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
 Thinking about abandonment as three stages
of a cycle
 Abandonment risk
 Abandonment
 Reuse
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
 Dealing with abandonment risk:
preventing abandonment
 Creating early warning systems
 Maintaining the economic viability of
absentee-owned property
 Supporting home owners
 Enforcement and receivership
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
 Taking control of abandoned properties
 Gaining legal control of abandoned
properties
 Maintaining, securing and removing
abandoned properties
 Disposing of properties for reuse
 Managing the abandoned property system
 Getting action on privately owned properties
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
 Fostering sustainable reuse of
abandoned properties
 Making markets
 Targeting strategies to neighborhood
market dynamics
 Using incentives to generate investment
 Brownfields
 Density and open space issues
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
 Framing an abandoned
property strategy





Define the problem
Identify the resources
Understand the market
Frame the strategies
Put it all together
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
 Defining the problem
 What types of abandoned properties are
there in the community?
 How many abandoned properties are there
in the community?
 How are the abandoned properties
distributed by location and concentration in
the community?
 What specific properties represent particular
problems or opportunities?
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
 Identifying resources






Human resources (quality and quantity)
Partners
Commitment
Political will
Technology
Money
Urban property abandonment: from blight to
opportunity
 Understanding the market
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
Framing strategies
 Motivating owners to restore abandoned properties
to productive use
 Eliminating scattered abandoned houses in an
improving neighborhood by helping families buy
and restore those houses for owner-occupancy
 Combining abandoned property reuse with other
community improvements to revitalize a
neighborhood
 Redeveloping a seriously disinvested neighborhood
 Reusing the community’s brownfield sites
 Preserving valuable buildings at risk of ‘demolition
by neglect’
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
 Putting it all together: a few examples
 Project 5000 in Baltimore
 Abandoned property law reform in New Jersey
 Vacant property registration fee in Wilmington
Delaware
 Vacant property strategy in Davenport Iowa
 CDC-led problem property strategy in Orange
New Jersey
 Land bank authority in Genesee County Michigan
Urban property abandonment: from blight to opportunity
Alan Mallach, FAICP
Research Director
National Housing Institute
609.448.5614
[email protected]
www.nhi.org