Where Vacant Properties Are Still Increasing in Number

"Despite a drop in numbers across much of the United States since the recession, vacant and abandoned properties continue to dog struggling postindustrial cities, tearing apart neighborhoods with growing intensity," according to a on article sharing a new report from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Alan Mallach authored the report, titled The Empty House Next Door: Understanding and Reducing Vacancy and Hypervacancy in the United States. The report finds evidence of increasing vacancies in cities like Detroit, St. Louis, and Cleveland. According to the article, "the number of units that are effectively abandoned has increased by 2.1 million units nationally, from 3.7 million in 2005 to 5.8 million in 2016, an increase roughly equal to five times the entire housing stock of San Francisco."

The report not only accounts for the places where vacancies are rising, but also discusses both obstacles to addressing vacancies (like "cumbersome property tax foreclosure processes" and "state laws and bank practices that lead to thousands of properties being stuck in foreclosure limbo). Prescriptions and strategies for addressing the challenges created by vacancies are also discussed.