MuniReg Blight Alert - National Strategies for Combatting Blight

We're pleased to provide you with the latest updates and national best practices regarding the mitigation of vacant and abandoned properties, specifically tailored to meet the needs of municipal governments like yours.

Please feel free to share this valuable information with your colleagues or any other relevant parties within your municipality.

For those who may be new to our newsletters, we typically release them on a monthly basis, occasionally bi-monthly (at most). Given the interconnected nature of community challenges, solutions developed elsewhere could offer invaluable insights for your own municipality.

At MuniReg, we're committed to understanding the unique pain points municipal governments face in combating "blight" and offering tailored solutions to address these challenges effectively.

This alert serves solely for informational purposes. Should you wish to explore how MuniReg can assist your municipality further, please don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

Empower Yourselves

What a quote by Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy! "The Code Enforcement Division needs to come to the City Council and tell them what they need to be successful"

Working with MuniReg alleviates time consuming and frustrating burdens like chasing after property owners and communicating with banks for improved property maintenance - all at no cost.

Code enforcement everywhere (not just San Jose) need to bring these solutions to their respective administration for their own benefit and for the community they serve.

To view the article, please click here.?

The challenges continue....

Six recent articles relate the ongoing challenges local government have with dealing with vacant and/or inadequately maintained properties.

• The Proper Approach or Wasted Time and Money?

A recent editorial in the St Louis Dispatch provides a telling headline ("Editorial: Boarding-and-billing vacant properties can't be the best solution") and potent quotes that appear to clearly demonstrate a huge wasted opportunity "Generally, the buildings are vacant in the first place because they’re in depopulated neighborhoods where investment is scarce. Shoring them up to prevent them from decaying further only makes sense if there’s a realistic possibility of marketing them. Usually, there isn’t. Which means the likeliest long-term outcome — after a significant investment of public dollars — is continued vacancy and the resumption of decay." "the city repair bills to the owners are often in the six figures, likely exceeding the entire market values of the properties. Which means the city will ultimately either have to forgive those debts or add the buildings to the city’s already brimming land bank of vacant and abandoned properties." "Among photos with Barker’s story on the program is an especially telling one of a vacant building with a new, city-funded two-story wooden deck and staircase leading up to new brickwork — and boarded-up windows overlooking a still-overgrown abandoned lot. What, exactly, is the plan here?" Dealing with these properties is an extremely complex issue, this is a clear example why proactive preventative measures like a VPRO are needed. Let us help you! To view the article, please click here. (subscription required)

• Step 1, Complete

Though "Faster action on blight is good for neighborhoods" is a headline one can readily agree with, there is more to the story. Getting the right "stick" on "the books" is a great first step, but to ensure more frequent and accelerated actions, additional resources need to me made available**.? With the rare exception, funding and training for code enforcement has not been the priority at State Legislatures. In the interim, more focus should be given to? a) ensure code enforcement is utilizing all available resources, internally and externally, and; b) updating local ordinances and; c) ensuring policies and procedures (and their respective resources) are created, implemented and utilized with proactivity, efficiency and logic.? On the last point, the article discusses "properties which don’t need much attention" but even "simple" grass/weed cutting can add up, especially with limited funding and staffing.? If there were ways to get others to do it shouldn't they be utilized? To view the article, please click here.

**Three recent quotes

1) Mississippi Secretary of State: "Jackson only has three Code Enforcement Officers who serve as boots on the ground within the city limits".............."while they are incredibly understaffed?

2) KRQE/Albuquerque City Councilor Joaquin Baca: "Right now, if there’s a code violation, essentially because it’s citywide, and we’re always short personnel. Nothing gets done unless something gets called in"

3) North Country Now "Code Enforcement officers in the village of Massena are handling roughly 700 calls on average each month, a case load that is nearly ten times what the department was seeing two decades ago. According to Code Enforcement Officer Aaron Hardy, the department has remained relatively the same since the late 1990's, with the same manpower."

• Pushback on Blight Mitigation Efforts

Adrian, MI: A group of people in Adrian are gearing up for a fight over the City's new point-of-sale inspection program.? WTVG "Fight to repeal Adrian home inspection ordinance"

• Pushback on Property Registries

Edison, NJ: The owners of more than 40 apartment complexes in Edison, New Jersey, totaling 8,216 units, have filed a lawsuit challenging its new housing ordinance, which among other requirements establishes registration fees of $100 per rental unit, according to court documents. MultifamilyDive.com "Owners of more than 8,000 units sue NJ town over new fees"

East Palestine, OH: A lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of East Palestine’s vacant building registration ordinance and its fees and fines is now moved to federal court. Morning Journal: Vacant buildings lawsuit moved to federal court

• When the negligent owner is ..................the State!

A lot to unpack in a featured article from the?Clarion Ledger (MS)?titled "State-owned tax forfeited properties are not cleaned up by the state. Who does it then?"Though several positives are outlined, several important issues need to be addressed. The good news is they are clearly on the radar and hopefully relief is on the way. In the interim, especially with understaffing and lack of funding as outlined in the article, code enforcement should be empowered with all tools and resources available. We are here to help!To view the article and an earlier related article, please click here ?

**Please note related link (above) to press release from the Mississippi Secretary of State

National League of Cities United States Conference of Mayors ICMA - International City/County Management Association Center for Community Progress American Planning Association American Association of Code Enforcement CODE ENFORCEMENT ASSOCIATION OF TEXAS Illinois Association of Code Enforcement Code Enforcement League of Arizona California Association Of Code Enforcement Officers Code Enforcement Chapter of Orange County COLORADO ASSOCIATION OF CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS GEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF CODE ENFORCEMENT INC OREGON CODE ENFORCEMENT ASSOCIATION #localgovernment #blight #vacant #localgov #zombieproperties #munireg #zombieforeclosures #abandonedproperties #vpr #vpro #codeenforcement #foreclosure #urbanplanning #citymanagement #codeviolations #vacantpropertyregistration #nuisanceproperties #vadproperties #communitydevelopment #vacantproperties #blightfight #communityengagement #communitypride #neighborhoods #neighborhoodpride