Abandoned Properties

Vacant lot in Chicago, Illinois with skyline in background

Exploring the Ethics of Private Property Buyouts

Learn more about the various impacts of buying out private property with the intent of furthering urban development.

March 8, 2023 - Devin Partida

Community garden in Chicago, Illinois with view of city skyline

How Abandoned Properties Can Be Used for Redevelopment

Abandoned properties can be a burden on a community, bringing everything from negative curb appeal to an increase in crime. Using these properties for positive community development can kill two birds with one stone.

July 7, 2022 - Devin Partida

Detroit Vacant Properties

Effective Strategies for Tackling Vacant Properties

Urban homesteading as a response to hypervacancy is in the news after South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg proposed the Douglass Plan while on the presidential campaign trail.

August 31, 2019 - Urban Institute

Japan Shared Space

Japan Offers Up Free Abandoned Houses

Due to an aging populace, lackluster construction quality, and other factors, Japan is facing a glut of abandoned homes. For those with the ability to live there, these homes can be had for next to nothing.

December 24, 2018 - Fast Company

4 abandoned homes in St. Louis's Greater Ville neighborhood

St. Louis Lawsuits Focus on Delinquent Properties

Special suits give property owners an opportunity to fix up rundown properties before the city sells them.

November 21, 2018 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Detroit Vacant Properties

Federal Agencies Investigating the Rising Costs of Detroit's Blight Program

Detroit's aggressive blight reduction strategy, to demolish vacant homes by the thousands, is coming under scrutiny for rising costs. The FBI and the U.S. Inspector General are investigating.

May 31, 2016 - Detroit Free Press

Braddock Pennsylvania

Managing Abandoned Homes in North Braddock

The usual litany of Rust Belt woes hit North Braddock, Pennsylvania particularly hard. The Pittsburgh suburb has shed two-thirds of its population and is burdened with 350 abandoned properties.

January 23, 2016 - Belt Magazine

Detroit Vacant

Detroit Receives Funding for Another Demolition Push

A recent influx of money to Detroit for demolitions of abandoned properties brings the city's total to $107 million. That money has established Detroit as the country's proving ground for the idea that demolitions stabilize struggling neighborhoods.

November 10, 2015 - Detroit Free Press

Report Collects and Shares Lessons from New York's Land Banks

Practical lessons and best practices will be helpful in empowering land banks to curb the spread of blight, foreclosures, and abandoned properties.

October 21, 2014 - Center for Community Progress

New Jersey Communities Build Coalition to Track Abandoned Properties

The residents of Camden County in New Jersey, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, banded together to catalog the abandoned properties in their neighborhoods, where the problem of abandoned, or "zombie" properties, is growing.

July 21, 2014 - Philadelphia Inquirer

Preservation Concerns Raised Over Milwaukee’s Blight Reduction Plans

Although Milwaukee had been insulated from population loss compared to many other legacy cities, the Great Recession has required the city to launch an $11.6 million blight reduction program.

April 25, 2014 - Next City

Georgia County Banks on Vacant and Abandoned Properties

Plagued by foreclosures, DeKalb County Georgia is buying up properties and creating a land bank in hopes of spurring redevelopment.

August 17, 2011 - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Trying To Reclaim and Reuse Abandoned Land in Philadelphia

Community groups in Philadelphia are trying to remake blighted vacant properties into community gardens and neighborhood amenities.

May 13, 2011 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Abandoned Power Plants, Amusement Parks, and More

Device Magazine features photos of places with deserted technology like the former Soviet nuclear submarine base in Balaklava, Ukraine and a ship graveyard in Lisbon, Portugal.

April 29, 2011 - Device Magazine

Quantifying the Impact of Abandoned Properties in Philly

A new study suggests that Philadelphia's 40,000 vacant buildings reduce home values by as much as $8,000 and cost the city $20 million per year in maintenance.

November 17, 2010 - Philadelphia Daily News

Blight Camouflage?

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the city has begun covering the broken windows and doors of abandoned homes with plywood painted to look like functioning doors and windows as part of a program to fight blight.

September 3, 2010 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Cities Creating Land Banks to Deal with Vacant Properties

Abandoned and foreclosed properties are plaguing many cities. Now some are trying to turn the blight into prosperity by creating land banks to hold, remodel or demolish the properties -- and pull in some revenue while they're at it.

July 13, 2009 - USA Today

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