Indianapolis wants to take over unsold vacant homes
To keep crime at bay, mayor asks county for homes left from tax sale

From Indianapolis Star, June 27, 2008

Indianapolis could soon assume ownership of hundreds of abandoned houses after Mayor Greg Ballard asked county officials to turn over homes that aren't sold in an October tax sale.

Taking possession of the unsold properties is part of the mayor's effort to rid the city of abandoned houses, which draw drug use and other crime in many neighborhoods. On Wednesday, Indianapolis police said they planned to step up their patrols of communities with large numbers of abandoned homes.


Ballard signed a memo flagging up to 900 homes that could be turned over to the Department of Metropolitan Development's Indy Land Bank. If the houses aren't sold or redeemed, the city would take over the properties in March and attempt to sell them to community development corporations and interested landowners.

Based on data from past sales, the city is likely to end up with about 300 of the properties that are put up for sale for delinquent taxes, said Jenny Green, a Department of Metropolitan Development assistant administrator overseeing the program.

Last year, the General Assembly eliminated the need to wait for a second tax sale, a process that could take up to two years and often frustrated community leaders.

The land bank, a program started two years ago, has 98 properties, Green said. The land bank enables the city to hold and maintain properties temporarily, and make them available to nonprofit or for-profit developers.

Green said the city has also found success in selling the properties to neighbors interested in expanding their lots or homes.

"The goal is to get these properties in the hands of people with the wherewithal to put them back on the tax rolls," Green said. "We've been gearing up for this for a year."

Marcus Barlow, the mayor's spokesman, said he was confident the program could handle significant expansion, though he acknowledged the move could leave the city responsible for scores of homes that typically are difficult to unload.

"Having more houses in more areas will help encourage developers looking for a bigger deal," Barlow said.

A survey in 2003 found the city had more than 8,000 abandoned homes, but that number has likely increased substantially with a mortgage crisis that has spurred foreclosures.

Green said the department studied successful land banks, such as one in Flint, Mich., that has about 10,000 properties. Sherron Franklin, the mayor's point person on the issue, is in St. Louis this week studying solutions being tried there.

The Department of Metropolitan Development plans to launch a Web site next month that will help it market the land bank's properties.

Green said the department chose the properties after discussions with community development corporations about their potential and the police about targeted areas. A few are also environmentally damaged properties needing cleanup before redevelopment.