Operation Vacant Properties

Perhaps the most compelling portion of the presentation was Alan Mallach on vacant properties. Looking at the number of Albany's vacant properties in private hands, and their conditions, Mallach said "Your ordinances are not working. . . Owners have to bear the costs and the city has to be aggressive about
making them."

He suggested several very concrete steps:

• A detailed and constantly updated real property information system, accessible by the public.
• A land bank, which is a mechanism for taking control of abandoned properties, maintaining them, and finding good, non-speculative owners for them.
• A chance in the relationship between the city and county on foreclosures, in which the county pays some taxes to the city, takes ownership of properties and sells them off at auction to speculators. This is short-term cash boost to the city that is a long-term drain on the city in lost property taxes and all the other costs associated with these properties. The land bank should take all foreclosed properties.
• Revise and enforce our vacant property ordinances so that "owners of vacant property are responsible for absolutely everything their buildings cause."  Mallach recommended graduated fees (in Wilmington DE they double every year) and billing owners for code inspections, police calls, fire calls, etc. and then going after the liens.
• Putting out a bond for forgivable loans (i.e. if you meet certain criteria, like living in the house for X years you don't have to pay it back) for owner-occupants to rehab abandoned properties. This would be gap financing, just covering the difference between rehab costs and market value. It would easily pay for itself in increased property taxes.

As wonkish as this sounds, it wasn't just me who was following closely. A set of concrete, possible, not costing millions of dollars we don't have steps to take toward what is one of the more intractable problems in our most distressed neighborhoods? Well, that's exciting. And, might I had, reducing abandoned buildings is a major crime-fighting strategy.

OK, I'm exhausted. There's more to say, but it's not going to be tonight.