Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Vacant Building Issue

Many buildings in many cities continue to sit year after year vacant. It is becoming a problem in the United States and no one really knows what to do about it. These abandoned residential and commercial structures detract from the city's appearance, drive down property values, and drain resources of police and fire departments. In response to all of this, some city's are looking at possibly charging registration fees or a special tax to owners of long-term abandoned properties. Is this a good solution to the problem?

3 comments:

  1. Or they could form a land bank the city could use to acquire, improve, and resell abandoned properties. It can be very difficult in determining the owners of abandoned properties. Many banks holding these properties will just ignore the fees they are charged.

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  2. I wonder how charging registration fees or special taxes, or even the cost of renovating compares to the cost of knocking the buildings/rebuilding. Demolition could be a good job creating opportunity as well.

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  3. i don't believe that this would help the issue at all. if they are obviously already struggling then why charge them more?

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