This number increases by at least $2 million a year. 17,000 vacant parcels are tax delinquent, most by over a decade, owing a total of $70 million to the City and School District in back property taxes. At least $2 Million in Uncollected Property Taxes Each Year. Over $20 Million in City Maintenance Costs Each Year.Though the City controls only a fraction of the vacant parcels within the city, it has to bear significant costs to maintain all of them - waste clean-up, pest control, police and fire - totaling over $20 million per year.ģ. This results in an estimated $3.6 billion reduction in property values, an average of $8,000 for each household in the City.Ģ. $3.6 Billion in Lost Household Wealth.Vacant parcels have a blighting effect on nearby properties, reducing values by 6.5 percent citywide and by up to 20 percent in some neighborhoods. 2 The results are not good news for either property owners or city officials.ġ. A 2010 city-commissioned study shed light on the steep economic toll long-term vacant and abandoned properties can have. The City of Philadelphia has researched and documented the costs of blight. 1 Blight has a negative effect on surrounding property values, which not only hurts adjacent property owners but reduces local property tax revenue.
#URBAN BLIGHT DEFINITION WINDOWS#
This is sometimes expressed as the “broken windows theory - the effect of urban disorder and vandalism triggering additional crime and anti-social behavior. The Cost of Blightīlighted abandoned property can be a danger to the public and lead to an increase in crime. It becomes a long and complicated story to frame all of the causes of property abandonment and resulting blight, but regardless, the prevalence of blight is staring us in the face and forcing community leaders to begin addressing the problem. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “urban blight” in terms of a deteriorated condition which impairs or destroys. The prevalence of blight is staring us in the face and forcing community leaders to begin addressing the problem.īlight can be a relative term and is often overused to describe vacant property that is simply boarded-up.
Anti-blight declarations have become the political equivalent of elected officials declaring that they are against crime and for education.
Public and political dialog has finally begun to focus on the prevalence and impact of abandoned blighted properties on our communities.
It has also become commonplace in most American cities to pass vacant retail strip centers or dead malls that have been abandoned.Įven entire distressed commercial corridors have lost their vibrancy due to factors such as development outpacing demand, the e-commerce revolution, shifting population, or a new ill-conceived highway. The housing recession and resulting sharp rise in foreclosures deepened concerns about vacancy and blight in many residential neighborhoods. Many cities and suburbs throughout North America are now in “crisis mode” in dealing with blight.
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