Even in the Washington D.C. region, which survived the Great Recession with one of the strongest economies in the country, foreclosed and vacant homes are a stubborn presence in many neighborhoods, including affluent ones.
"This is what the end of a housing crisis looks like: steadily rising home prices, foreclosure filings at five-year lows, but also millions of vacant foreclosed homes," reports . "Years after the housing market crashed, recovering communities from Las Vegas to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., continue to grapple with a glut of vacant properties, which drag down property values, attract vandals and drain public resources."
While the D.C. region escaped the worst of the recession, it hasn't entirely escaped the effects of the burst housing bubble that's touched most communities in the country. In Prince George's County, in suburban Maryland, a nationwide moratorium on foreclosures and a state foreclosure process that averages more than 500 days have conspired to leave vacant houses scattered throughout neighborhoods, even affluent ones, says Shin. She looks at the case of one vacant $420,000 house in Clinton that was vandalized and seriously damaged by fire two years after it went into foreclosure.
"Vacant properties impose costs on communities whether they tend to them or not. Neglect, maintenance and demolition all come with a price."
FULL STORY: In Prince George’s, hundreds of vacant houses drag down neighborhoods
Checking in on Detroit’s Housing Renaissance
Efforts by the city and residents have generated 17,000 new housing units in the last five years.
Baltimore Program Could Repurpose Thousands of Vacant Housing Units
The city and state are investing $3 billion in rescuing vacant residential properties to promote homeownership and reduce blight.
Milwaukee Selects Developers to Rehab Vacant Homes
A record 66 developers applied to refurbish 150 vacant, city-owned homes.
Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.
Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?
HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.
Has Anyone at USDOT Read Donald Shoup?
USDOT employees, who are required to go back to the office, will receive free parking at the agency’s D.C. offices — flying in the face of a growing research body that calls for pricing parking at its real value.
EPA Terminates $116 Million in Grants for Reducing Emissions from Construction Materials
C-MORE grants were earmarked for industry trade groups and universities.
BART Closes $35 Million Deficit
Cost control and revenue generation measures prevented service cuts.
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