Communities Give a New Look To Foreclosed Properties
As the American real estate market goes through a tailspin, the number of foreclosures peaks. The consequences are there for everyone to see – banks taking over the foreclosed properties and the owners fleeing them. As a result, neighborhoods with vacant houses are a plenty in various counties. Crime is rampant in these neighborhoods. But now certain neighborhood associations are trying to give a facelift to these decadent areas.
Brown Kinloch says how Phoenix Hill area had once sported ugly rows of vacant houses. Crime thrived in the area but now the unsightly plots wear a new look, thanks to the neighborhood association. Even a small playground and a park have come up in the area. That gives the much-needed touch of green to an area that had degenerated into an abandoned neighborhood.
Kinloch, a renewable energy developer, says people were given to believe that new housing cannot be built inside Louisville. “But we have proved that it is not true. If the houses are affordable they can be sold too,” says Kinloch.
Not only Louisville, efforts to rebuild neighborhoods are on in several areas like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit. Local governments and community groups are working hand-in-hand to buy land. They are also tearing down old buildings and erecting new ones in their places. Sometimes, a speck of green is being added to attract business into the area. Such welcome signs are becoming common now.
However, giving a new touch to a degenerated area is not an easy task. Above 1.2 million homes were foreclosed in 2008. This means there is a vast stock of bank-owned spaces in the market that has caused housing prices to dip. As people lost jobs, crime became rampant in many neighborhoods, says Alan Mallach, a non-resident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution.
Now the National Vacant Properties Campaign wants to pull out the areas from decadence. Both the government and private properties have joined the fight to reclaim cities. According to the group, there are millions of vacant properties in the region. Another million will be added soon as foreclosures keep on increasing. Mallach says that there will not be a turnaround in this situation soon. Louisville still has many abandoned homes and vacant plots.
Still efforts to renovate properties are on in full swing. The demolition budget has been doubled in Pittsburgh. The task is no doubt a big one in a city that has about 6,000 vacant houses and 24,000 plots.