An Assessment of Code Enforcement Strategies in Lima, Ohio

Executive Summary

In April 2024, the Center for Community Progress competitively selected the City of Lima, Ohio to receive a Code Enforcement Technical Assistance Scholarship to identify code enforcement reforms that would help increase compliance and deliver equitable outcomes. Over eight months, the Community Progress technical assistance team, led by Liz Kozub, Libby Benton, and Nora Daly, analyzed available data, reviewed relevant reports and state and local laws, and interviewed critical stakeholders during a two-day site visit and virtual calls to better understand the City’s approach to code enforcement and the scale of vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties.

Key Takeaways

1. Owners of vacant, tax-delinquent properties with code violations face no significant consequences for their negligent actions. Each year, the City accrues an estimated $1.3 million in costs and fees associated with its property maintenance efforts, which include regularly maintaining an inventory of 484 privately owned, vacant parcels.Together, the City and County are owed over $11 million in delinquent taxes, assessments, and code liens on these 484 properties. The power to foreclose on properties and recoup public expenses rests with Allen County, which takes foreclosure actions on approximately 1 percent of vacant tax-delinquent properties in the City annually. Without a final enforcement action, Lima will continue to be trapped in a cycle of decline.
2. The City has a sizeable inventory of vacant properties, many of which may have development potential. There are over 1,000 privately owned vacant properties in Lima. The City also owns and maintains 158 additional properties, the majority of which were transferred to the City from the Allen County Land Bank in 2023. The appreciating market and the housing affordability crisis are making some residential vacant lots more attractive to private and nonprofit developers.
3. The City and County must find ways to increase capacity to bring legal action against vacant, tax-delinquent properties. In Ohio, the Board of Revision and standard judicial tax processes are the most efficient, effective, and equitable ways to return VAD properties to productive reuse. The County’s failure to conduct these foreclosures is severely hampering the City’s ability to address these properties and revitalize its neighborhoods. The City and County should consider an interlocal agreement to boost capacity at the County to increase delinquent tax and code lien enforcement efforts. The City should also explore expanding its capacity to bring nuisance abatement actions against properties with vacant structures.
4. A focus on compliance rooted in community engagement should be the foundation for code enforcement efforts in Lima. The City has a strong commitment to working with responsible owners to achieve compliance, and could expand its engagement efforts. Increased community engagement could help improve community relations and allow property maintenance inspectors to clarify their roles with community members, build trust, and identify opportunities to work together to improve the quality of life for Lima residents.
5. The City’s leadership is an asset to moving this work forward. City leaders and staff show exceptional commitment to advancing shared goals to improve the quality of life for Lima residents. The City’s code enforcement team, which consists of four property maintenance inspectors that operate in the field and one manager, openly shared their challenges with our team and were eager to learn about different approaches to stabilize Lima’s neighborhoods.

Community Progress identified the following recommendations for the City to consider as it further strengthens its code compliance efforts in pursuit of equitable outcomes and healthy and safe neighborhoods.

Summary of Recommendations

Approaches to Community Engagement

• Provide professional development opportunities to support property maintenance inspectors using “soft skills” in the field.
• Partner with a local agency to inventory and map social services and organizations.
• Design and institute new community engagement programming.

Approaches to Vacant Properties

• Establish a Vacancy Task Force and regularly share data.
• Analyze vacancy data and triage properties for foreclosure.
• Formalize a partnership with Allen County through an interlocal agreement, or other mechanism, to increase capacity to conduct foreclosures in Lima.
• Pilot strategic foreclosure processes.
• Scale up nuisance abatement cases and consider piloting a nuisance abatement program.
• Consider changing the name of the “specified parcels list” to the “abandoned properties list.”
• Consider decreasing abatement work on vacant lots and exploring alternative maintenance options, such as native low-grow vegetation or engaging community volunteers to assist with lot maintenance.
• Explore acquisition of the properties on the forfeited land list.

Approaches to Owner-Occupied Properties

• Consider amending the civil penalty to reflect the seriousness of different code violations.
• If a code violation is remediated, consider removing the $50 civil penalty.
• Improve residents’ knowledge of existing home repair programs.

Approaches to Rental Properties

• Develop a resource list for owners of rental properties.
• Provide educational resources on tenants’ rights and responsibilities.
• Expand the rental registration ordinance to include proactive inspections.
• Offer relocation support to tenants living in substandard housing.

Approaches to Publicly Owned Vacant Properties

• Develop a better understanding of neighborhood-level markets to ensure disposition strategies are informed by data, economic realities, and housing needs.
• Engage community members to ensure disposition is informed by community goals and priorities.
• Develop policies, processes, and procedures for property disposition informed by the qualitative and quantitative data gathered in the above recommendations.
• Contact property owners living next to vacant lots with opportunities to purchase.
• Consider engaging Mercy Health – St. Rita’s Medical Center to gauge their interest and capacity in developing vacant parcels for community-driven reuse.
• Leverage the large inventory of vacant properties to incentivize infill housing development.

The City of Lima has instituted a proactive approach to code compliance and demonstrates a commendable interest in finding a more effective, efficient, and equitable approach to their efforts. We congratulate the City for its commitment to mitigating the harmful effects of unmaintained vacant properties and ensuring Lima’s neighborhoods are safe and stable. However, the City must find opportunities to partner with Allen County to increase capacity to bring legal action against vacant, tax delinquent properties, or else the City risks being stuck in a cycle of decline. Community Progress hopes this memorandum helps the City and its partners identify actions needed for a successful approach to equitably, efficiently, and effectively addressing VAD properties. Community Progress remains available as a partner and resource as the City explores these recommendations, and we thank those who contributed to the success of this engagement.

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