Systemic Vacancy

Every person deserves to live in a community where property vacancy, abandonment, and deterioration do not exist. However, across America – from large cities to small towns – vacant properties diminish the value of nearby properties, poses health risks to residents, and damages the fiscal stability of local governments. Systemic vacancy, meaning property vacancy that is so widespread it changes the character of a neighborhood, is a symptom of deeper issues like concentrated poverty, economic decline, and market failure, which are often rooted in historically inequitable local, state, and federal policies. Communities dealing with abandoned buildings and economic struggles often become stuck in a negative cycle; vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties intensify poor living conditions impacting the economy, community, housing stock, and individuals which in turn fuels neighborhood challenges and increases levels of vacancy and abandonment.