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."
Read the full story: Foreclosure Trash-Out: Ill Fortune and Its Leavings
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Chicago voters approve permanent festival grounds, penalty for vacant property owners
Currently, major summer and fall festivals take over public parks for weeks at a time, drawing criticism from nearby residents
NYC votes to cut outdoor dining red tape, speed up permitting
New York City also voted to allow the Department of Transportation to begin work on urgent projects before notifying elected officials.
California appears to reject Prop. 45
The proposition would have expanded the projects that qualify for a streamlined environmental review, effectively paring down the California Environmental Quality Act.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority