6/15/2005
Media Contact:
Justin Ohlemiller, [317] 327-6709 |
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City's abandoned houses initiative gets a boost from national grant
Indy one of only seven cities nationwide to receive aid in fight against abandoned properties INDIANAPOLIS – The City of Indianapolis has been selected as one of seven cities nationwide to receive a grant from the National Vacant Properties Campaign, a consortium of national organizations dedicated to aiding local communities in their battle to reclaim vacant and abandoned properties, Mayor Bart Peterson announced today.
The in-kind grant, worth between $10,000 and $15,000, will provide the city with expert assistance and service as it continues implementing the Mayor's abandoned houses initiative.
The National Vacant Properties Campaign received proposals from 50 communities, but awarded grants to only seven cities including Indianapolis, Baltimore, Md., Bridgeport, Conn., Buffalo, N.Y., Richmond, Va., Spartanburg, S.C. and Tucson, Ariz.
"Abandoned and vacant properties are havens for crime and a destructive force in neighborhoods, and they continue to plague our city and urban communities across the nation," said Mayor Peterson. "This grant from the National Vacant Properties Campaign will certainly provide a boost to our continuing war on abandoned houses as we work to reclaim and revitalize these blighted properties."
"The campaign wanted to assist cities that were already working to help themselves, and Indianapolis, with its on-going abandoned houses initiative, certainly fits that criteria," said Lisa Mueller Levy, technical assistance director for the National Vacant Properties Campaign. "We are anxious to further this exceptional local effort by contributing expertise gained in other cities to implement specific local land use reforms."
Nationally renowned experts funded by the vacant properties campaign will aid the city in studying the possible creation and operation of a land bank, a tool that has proven to be effective in some cities across the country. A land bank is an entity that focuses on simplifying the redevelopment process for vacant, abandoned and tax delinquent sites. Typically, land banks acquire distressed properties, clean and clear their titles, and then work with community development organizations to revitalize them.
City officials, with the guidance of housing experts, will study existing laws regarding land banks, make possible recommendations for changes to those laws and engage potential community partners.
Technical assistance also will be provided to study and implement reforms to the local tax sales process, which the city has used as a means to acquire abandoned properties and get them in the hands of community development corporations (CDCs) to redevelop.
The city's Abandoned Houses Work Group earlier this year issued two in-depth, detailed reports that called for, among other things, creating a land bank and reforming the tax sale process. The work group, which represents a diverse range of interests and constituencies, was appointed by the Mayor to assist the city in outlining long-term strategies to tackle the complex abandoned houses issue.
Since declaring war on abandoned houses in 2003, the city has:
- completed Indianapolis' first-ever comprehensive inventory of abandoned and vacant properties, enabling the city to locate the areas most affected by this problem and focus resources in those areas;
- created a website that provides detailed information about each of the properties in the inventory, including a classification system that allows private developers and CDCs to consider redevelopment potential for these sites;
- utilized the expedited tax sale to move abandoned properties more quickly through the system and get them in the hands of CDCs to redevelop;
- shined a spotlight on problem property owners by creating a "Top Ten" list of the worst violators and taken legal action to hold those negligent land owners accountable;
- cut down on blight by initiating proactive and regularly scheduled clean-ups of vacant properties that are unkempt and ill-maintained; and
- secured a grant in partnership with the Polis Center to improve local decision making about property redevelopment by increasing access to community information and improving communication.
The city also created and lobbied for a series of reforms during this year's general assembly that would have: enabled municipalities more effectively go after the assets of problem property owners; given developers a right of entry for properties purchased at a tax sale to perform repairs and cut down on blight before actually taking ownership; and placed additional qualifications on tax sale properties to prevent speculators -- who have no intention of rehabilitating these sites – from acquiring them. Unfortunately, the legislative package died in committee.
The National Vacant Properties Campaign is a collaboration of four leading national organizations, Smart Growth America, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the International City/County Management Association and the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. Funding for the campaign's grant program is provided by the Surdna Foundation.
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