As foreclosures spread throughout California's Inland Empire, empty homes need to be cleaned and maintained. To meet the demand, an industry is rapidly expanding.
"Just over an hour after they had arrived, they were done: the yard was clean, the house cleared, the "after" pictures taken. The men, members of a "trash out" crew charged with hauling away what's left in foreclosed houses, had removed any sign of a home life from this one in Murrieta Oaks."
"Mr. Brewer and his colleagues work for WSR Sales and Management, a real estate company based in nearby Riverside that has been around for 27 years, but has lately reinvented itself as a specialist in "home preservation" - the process of cleaning, securing and maintaining foreclosed properties for banks that begins with the process referred to as trashing out."
"In the three years since the mortgage crisis began in the Riverside area, the company has expanded its preservation unit from 2 people to 60, and Mr. Plocher now oversees five trash-out crews that work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, along with another 23 crews that perform regular landscaping and maid services for roughly a thousand houses that have already been cleaned out and put on the market."
FULL STORY: Foreclosure Trash-Out: Ill Fortune and Its Leavings
Is the Era of the 'Free' Freeway Coming to an End?
No one's suggesting that freeways will be converted to tollways, but a pattern is emerging that when freeways are widened, express lanes, financed in part by user fees, are being added rather than mixed-flow lanes. Case in point: the Inland Empire.
California's Inland Empire Ready to Build Again
As an article in Builder puts it: the 'Inland Empire Strike Back' with a large new masterplanned community in Riverside County. This region, hit particularly hard by the housing crash of the Great Recession looks ready pick up where it left off.
City of Los Angeles Tops 4 Million in Latest State Population Report
As usual, California's fastest growing counties were inland, far from coastal job centers. The big surprise was that the fastest growing city was an affluent Silicon Valley suburb that had been sued in 2012 by affordable housing advocates.
Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?
Making Shared Micromobility More Inclusive
Cities and shared mobility system operators can do more to include people with disabilities in planning and operations, per a new report.
Car Designs Make it Harder to See Pedestrians
Blind spots created by thicker pillars built to withstand rollover crashes are creating dangerous conditions for people outside vehicles.
Cal Fire Chatbot Fails to Answer Basic Questions
An AI chatbot designed to provide information about wildfires can’t answer questions about evacuation orders, among other problems.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie