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Delinquent Tax Enforcement

An Unprecedented Opportunity for COVID Relief and Equitable Neighborhood Transformation

While the US is gaining ground in its fight against COVID-19, many communities are facing growing threats to neighborhood stability from its economic fallout. Unprecedented help is on the horizon for these communities, which could provide a momentous opportunity to spur equitable revitalization. Where we are today While the national unemployment rate has been dropping, [1] it…

Preventing Post-COVID-19 Vacancy: 6 Interventions Local Governments Should be Thinking About Now

We are still many months away from fully understanding the public health and economic fallout from COVID-19. However, history can provide some foresight into how this crisis may impact community stability and what actions local governments could examine now to mitigate these impacts. Discriminatory and unjust policies have exposed individuals…

Tax Lien Sales are Not a Vital Tool for Recovery; People Are

We are in an unprecedented situation, and our concerns first and foremost should be about keeping people safe and, to the extent that it is the safest decision for that individual or family, in their homes. In response to the current COVID-19 crisis, it has been reassuring to see the…

A Love Letter to the Next Decade of Community Development (from Shelterforce)

I’m in love. When you wake up every day knowing that what you do helps improve people’s lives and where they live, it’s one of the best feelings on earth. After witnessing years of hollow promises from political and business leaders who promised to “make communities better,” I get a…

Why do some cities have so many vacant properties?

Tarik Abdelazim, our associate director for National Technical Assistance, wrote this blog post (cross-posted from Breathing Lights) to begin to unpack the causes of vacancy and abandonment for residents of the Capital Region of New York. Although focused on cities in New York, the general trends described below are…

Where the brave dare not go

Few topics will kill a conversation faster than inviting a discussion of property taxes. At the same time, however, the efficiency and effectiveness of our local governments and school districts tends to be a favorite topic of discussion. The problem – and challenge – is that these two topics are…

This Tax Day, making the case for property tax reform in Detroit

Ineffective property tax systems can have a detrimental community impact. They weaken the delivery of services that improve quality of life for local residents – from essential functions like public safety, to supportive services like enforcement of property maintenance standards. Many of the cities that we work in face…

Charting a new way forward through attorney-practitioner partnerships: Part II —Milwaukee

This is the second in a two-part series exploring how strong working partnerships between practitioners and attorneys can give rise to innovation in the work to reclaim and revitalize blighted properties. Missed Part I—Syracuse? Click here >> Let’s give ourselves a little breathing room In Milwaukee, a productive partnership between…

How the zombie house crisis mutated and what cities are doing about it

Cross-posted from Next City, this article is one of a ten-part series inspired by the 2015 Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference. Are there more zombies in our city than ever before, or are we just paying more attention to them? “Zombie properties” is a clever name to describe residential buildings that are neither alive nor…

Why Cities Need to Get Smarter About Property Taxes

Cross-posted from Next City, this article is one of a ten-part series inspired by the 2015 Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference. With property taxes accounting for up to 75 percent of local government revenue, everything depends on getting them right. It’s the pool of funds we depend upon to support everything from infrastructure…

The Problem with Calling Neighborhoods with Vacant Properties “Blighted”

Blight is a shorthand term many people use to refer to properties they perceive as problematic in some way.

How Vacant and Abandoned Buildings Affect the Community

Vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties—referred to by some as “blighted properties”—pose significant costs to public health, property values, local taxpayers, and more.

Answering Big Questions Following Tyler v. Hennepin County

Answering the most common and important questions we’ve heard about property tax foreclosure in the wake of Tyler v. Hennepin County.

What Is a Tax Lien Sale and Why Is It a Bad Way of Dealing with Vacant Properties?

Tax lien sales are one way that cities and counties try to recoup some of the public dollars they’ve spent maintaining properties abandoned by private owners. But tax lien sales rarely fix the problem, nor lead to a vacant property being returned to productive use.

Challenges—and Opportunities—to Addressing Vacant Properties in Raton, New Mexico

A snapshot of Raton, New Mexico and how the city can tackle vacant and abandoned properties.

What Tyler v. Hennepin County Means for the Future of Property Tax Foreclosure Systems Across the Country

The SCOTUS decision opens up an opportunity for all states to redesign their property tax systems from beginning to end.

Delinquent Property Tax Enforcement Could Be the Missing Piece in Fighting Vacant Properties

A well-designed delinquent tax enforcement system can help communities return properties to productive use.

The Community-led Effort to Address Vacant and Abandoned Properties in St. Louis County, Missouri

St. Louis County needed a county-wide land bank to work with local communities and partners to help return vacant and abandoned properties to productive use. But breaking the cycle of vacancy requires a comprehensive approach.

Detroit’s Tax Foreclosure Problems Need Long-Term Solutions

This is an excerpt of Chapter 3 of Tackling Vacancy and Abandonment: Strategies and Impacts After the Great Recession, jointly produced by the Center for Community Progress, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. It has been lightly edited and condensed for the web….

Communities Across the US Are Addressing Property Deterioration and Vacancy With ARPA

States, Tribes, counties, and municipalities around the country have been hard at work determining how to use their allocations from the American Rescue Plan Act’s $350 billion State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund – which we often clumsily abbreviate as the ARPA SLFRF. Every unit of government should have already received at least the first…