Bulldoze or Beautify?

Last Week, Detroit revealed a plan in which they will donate ten homes for police officers who move to the city, demolish 100 abandoned houses and open two service centers to help residents at risk of foreclosure keep their homes.

Detroit’s population has decreased by 25% since 2000 and isn’t showing any immediate signs of picking up again. They are picking up on initiatives to “right-size” their city and try to attract more people living on the outskirts of the city and live downtown.

Cities across America are faced with the issue vacant and abandoned properties, especially in the downturn of the current economic climate. These structures are unattractive in a neighborhood and bring down property values, are a detriment to public health, and can become havens for squatters, crime, and other illegal activities. A study in Philadelphia showed that properties within a 150 foot radius of a vacant and abandoned property experienced a net loss of over $7,600 in value. Without any kind of intervention, this ripple effect can take hold of an entire city as it has in Detroit.

A neighborhood in which there are several vacant and abandoned properties could be turned into an area for redevelopment or affordable housing. Fort Wayne had success last year in this, in which they were given nearly $5 million from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to invest in 32 vacant or foreclosed homes in a targeted area.

Nevertheless, vacant and abandoned properties are still a problem in Fort Wayne. There are about 12,000 vacant homes in the city, mostly due to foreclosure, Allen County Recorder John McGauley said to the Journal Gazette. Each vacant home has a conservatively estimated $40,000 cost to the community in terms of lowered property values and other costs, McGauley also stated.

Should we scale-down and knock down these houses like in Detroit, or should we rehabilitate them and put them to good use?

Photo credit News-Sentinel