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of structures and is a direct risk to responding police officers and firefighters.15 Fires in abandoned buildings pose a threat to surrounding structures and are a direct risk to responding |
problem is facilitated by scrap-metal buyers and secondhand dealers who ask few questions during the transaction.‡‡ A common practice in order to sell raw wire for scrap is to burn |
away the outer coating. This open burning releases airborne pollutants and poses a direct threat to property, air quality, and health. Thieves also risk arrest and injury, particularly electrocution, when |
dismantling electrical components. When a structure’s doors and windows are stolen, it is further exposed to inclement weather and quicker deterioration, which devalues the property. ††† Components typically include copper |
pipes and wiring; gutters and leaders; vinyl and aluminum siding; tin or copper roofing and other scrap metal; boilers; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; hot water heaters and other |
plumbing fixtures; stained glass; cabinetry; appliances; fencing; and doors and windows ‡‡ See Problem-Specific Guide No. 58, Theft of Scrap Metal, for further information. Owners who lose their homes may |
no longer be able to care for their pets, or their new housing arrangements may not allow pets; consequently, they abandon them.16 In 2009, the American Society for the Prevention |
of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) reported that between 500,000 and 1 million pets were at risk of abandonment in the United States due to economic problems.17 If the animal dies, |
the owner may be subject to cruelty charges, and the decaying carcass poses a health hazard. Owners who lose their homes may also abandon pets that they are no longer |
able to care for. Photo Credit: Wikipedia commons Property values decline through disinvestment and reduced commerce, tourism, and aesthetic appeal. Adjacent properties may require higher insurance premiums or be denied |
casualty insurance altogether. Lower property values command lower property tax revenue, which reduces funding for government services.18 A Philadelphia study showed housing sales prices declined most when the house for |
sale was within 150 feet of an abandoned building and gradually improved with distance. 19 Public health is threatened by feces, illegal dumping, asbestos, lead particles, hazardous waste discharge, and |
airborne mold. Standing water in pools, hot tubs, and discarded tires breeds mosquitoes and other insects and also poses a drowning risk.20 Overgrown and undeveloped landscapes harbor mice, rats, stray |
animals, and other vermin. Mosquitoes and vermin are vectors for disease, particularly West Nile Virus, rabies, and various parasites. Public health is indirectly threatened by infectious diseases when the property |
is used for illicit sex21 and drug use involving needle-sharing.22 Estimated net impact of distance from an abandoned building on sales price. Source: Research for Democracy. 2001. "Blight Free Philadelphia: |
A Public-Private Strategy to Create and Enhance Neighborhood Value." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project and Temple University Center for Public Policy, p. 22. A squatter is “a person who |
settles on property without any legal claim or title.”23 Squatters pose several risks by: 1) illegally connecting existing utilities (water, gas, electricity, and cable), or stealing them from a nearby |
legitimate property; 2) not having access to sanitary facilities or running water; 3) starting fires to keep warm and to cook; 4) engaging in criminal activity; 5) not paying rent |
or local property taxes; 6) subjecting themselves to arrest for trespassing or other offenses; 7) provoking encounters with nearby residents who object to their presence and unconventional lifestyle; 8) physically |
resisting authorities who try to evict them; 9) proffering counterfeit documents as a form of “paper terrorism;” and 10) presenting legal arguments supporting their claim to the property under the |
adverse possession law doctrine, more commonly known as “squatters rights.”ψ Squatters have been known to take advantage of the recent increase in empty homes on which banks have foreclosed. ψ |
Some squatters practice"freeganism," an anti-consumerist/anti-capitalist lifestyle characterized by wandering, purchasing very few consumer goods, scavenging for discarded food in dumpsters, wearing secondhand clothes, and living in abandoned buildings (Thomas 2010). |
Other squatters identify themselves as"sovereign citizens," an anti-government movement whose followers do not recognize government authority, do not pay taxes and do not believe banks are permitted to own land |
or property. As such, they believe they are entitled to occupy foreclosed or abandoned properties and may proffer counterfeit documents"proving" they own the house. Group members also reject the legitimacy |
of and defy the authority of courts. The FBI classifies them as a domestic extremist organization that has had violent encounters with police, especially during visits to their homes. Members |
of the sovereign citizen movement may also refer to themselves as constitutionalists, freemen, militiamen, preamble citizens, common law citizens, and non-foreign/non-resident aliens. For further information, see Anti-Defamation League (2010); Chermak, |
Freilich, and Shemtob (2009); FBI (2011); and Southern Poverty Law Center (2010). Legitimate tenants may become homeless when a property owner abandons their property. Children are particularly vulnerable to the |
stress and instability created by displacement, which affects their friendships, health, and education.24 Trespassing ρ is a precursor to burglary that occurs when the property is unprotected. Trespassers view unprotected |
property - both buildings and lots - as available for their use as a shortcut, a hang out, or a place to engage in criminal activity. Unprotected property is also |
inviting to curious children, who use it as a playground, and homeless people, who use it to establish encampments. Trespassers, particularly children, risk injury and victimization and may generate noise |
or invade the neighbors’ privacy. ρ Some criminal statutes provide an affirmative defense to trespassing if the building was abandoned at the time of the offense (e.g., N.J.S.A. 2C:18-3 (d)(1), |
Criminal Trespass, Defenses). Consult with local counsel about the need for a search warrant before entering abandoned properties to conduct fire, health, or code inspections (Holcomb 2008). Graffiti and broken |
windows are common acts of vandalism plaguing abandoned buildings. Gangs will “tag” an abandoned building with spray paint to signal it is their territory. Whether malicious or mischievous, vandalism is |
illegal, devalues the property, induces fear and ruins neighborhood aesthetics.δ Graffiti is commonly found on abandoned buildings and further devalues the property. δ See Problem-Specific Guide No. 9, Graffiti, for |
further information. Understanding the factors that contribute to your problem will help you frame your own local analysis questions, determine good effectiveness measures, recognize key intervention points, and select appropriate |
responses. There are several reasons why properties are abandoned; however, economic factors are the leading explanation.25 Lending Practices and Foreclosure Some real-property lending practices, such as adjustable-rate mortgages, interest-only loans, |
sub-prime lending and contracts for deed, can increase the risk of the borrower being unable to afford to make payments, and, consequently, of property foreclosure.26 Additionally, some lending practices specifically |
target minority communities with exorbitant closing fees and high interest rates.27 Foreclosure and foreclosure rescue scams may accelerate abandonment, and where foreclosed properties exist there is a tendency for crime |
to increase.28 Costs of Commercial Compliance and Remediation Commercial enterprises that sell hazardous materials or use them in their production processes are heavily regulated. Proper licensing, appropriate storage, handling, and |
disposal of chemicals, and remediating spills can be very expensive, and investing in compliance only increases losses. To avoid compliance and increase profit, some property owners bury, burn, or illegally |
discharge waste and then abandon the property, leaving behind brownfields κ, the property then cannot be sold without extensive remediation. Consequently, it stands abandoned and may pose a community health |
risk. Similar conditions exist for methamphetamine/illicit drug labs that use dangerous chemicals in drug manufacturing.ξ κ Brownfields are industrial or commercial properties that remain abandoned, idle, or underused in part |
because of environmental contamination or the fear of such contamination. Abandoned waste sites may become Environmental Protection Agency superfund cleanup projects. ξ See Problem-Specific Guide No. 16, Clandestine Methamphetamine Labs, |
2nd Ed. Rising Property Taxes and Tax Delinquency As property taxes increase, property owners, particularly those who invest to maximize wealth, may invest less in repairs and improvements.29 As the |
rise continues, property owners may consider defaulting on the mortgage and abandoning the property. When the current mortgage exceeds the property’s value, it’s more likely the owner will abandon the |
property. Job Loss and Population Loss The incidents of abandoned properties increase when homeowners lose their jobs. Unemployed individuals without a transportable or marketable skill are more likely to suffer |
foreclosure. Some unemployed workers may follow jobs out of state as employment patterns shift. As the population begins to decline, the need for housing units decreases, fewer new units are |
built, and existing units may be abandoned.30 Older Housing Stock If an old building has historical or architectural value, its age plays a role in preserving the city’s character. But |
if a building is simply old, it may be rendered obsolete by features that limit its functionality and marketability, such as: 1) no off-street parking; 2) small footprint by contemporary |
standards, fewer bathrooms, and no garage; 3) a small or nonconforming lot; 4) too expensive to rehabilitate or remediate (e.g., lead paint and asbestos abatement; seismic upgrades); 5) too close |
to an adjacent house; or 6) situated in a mixed-use area among factories, warehouses, junkyards, or stores and subjected to noise, smoke, particulates, and vibration. Absentee owners do not live |
in the building they own. They typically collect rent, but fail to invest in property maintenance, install upgrades, or control tenants’ behavior. Full occupancy overrides safety and order; owners do |
not exercise control over the space and do not screen tenants before renting to them. As the building deteriorates, respectable tenants move out. The building begins to command lower rent, |
less desirable tenants move in, and crime and disorder follow. These conditions tend to spread to adjacent areas, which supports the beliefs that “slumlords” contribute to neighborhood decline and initial |
blight that is left unattended can have adverse consequences on the existing housing market.31 Real Estate Speculators As portions of a city gentrify, speculators may purchase abandoned buildings and, instead |
of filling them with low- or moderate-income tenants, purposely leave them empty with the hope of renting to high-income tenants in the future or selling the buildings for a large |
profit.32 Although the properties are abandoned, the government has little mitigation recourse if the property taxes are current and the properties are maintained.33 Speculators may treat levied fines as the |
cost of doing business and feel unconcerned that these costs are passed along to future renters or buyers. A variation on speculation is when developers buy empty lots (or lots |
with buildings that they then raze), and, while waiting for land values to appreciate, convert the lots for short-term income generation and forego any investment in security. As an example, |
parking lots may crop up in areas for which they are not zoned, and the minimal security may invite other crimes.ζ Although the parking lot is not technically “abandoned,” it |
can be deemed less than fully protected for its present use, which creates new conditions for police and government agencies to address. ζ See Problem-Solving Guide No. 10, Thefts of |
and From Cars in Parking Facilities. “Demolition by Neglect” Some properties may be designated historical landmarks, which are legally protected from demolition. Owners may purposely allow these properties to deteriorate |
into a safety hazard, and the government or owner must demolish the buildings once they are declared unsafe. This allows property owners to subvert preservation laws and rebuild where they |
were once precluded by regulation.34 The information provided above is only a generalized description of abandoned buildings and lots. You must combine the basic facts with a more specific understanding |
of your local problem. Analyzing the local problem carefully will help you design a more effective response strategy. In addition to criminal justice agencies, the following groups have an interest |
in the abandoned property problem. These groups should be consulted when collecting information about the problem and responding to it as they form the foundation for enduring police- community partnerships:† |
How They Can Help Community and Nonprofit † See Problem-Solving Tools Guide No. 5, Partnering with Business to Address Public Safety Problems. Also see Geller and Belsky (2010) for more |
on establishing police-community partnerships and Blumenberg, Blom, and Artigiani (1998) for their co-production model of code enforcement and nuisance abatement. Data are especially important for state and federal grant applications, |
influencing public policy, and crafting responses. If you identify gaps in current mitigation efforts, legislation, or other regulatory aspects, then you will need to document the problem and the proposed |
policy changes, which will be informed by accurate and timely data. Most states do not establish standards for collecting property data, so it may be difficult to compare your jurisdiction |
to another. Also, given any changes to your jurisdiction’s existing data collection methods or data elements, it may be difficult to compare property data within your jurisdiction over time. Take |
an inventory of abandoned properties and analyze the data to get a baseline understanding of the scope of the problem. The following are some critical questions you should ask in |
analyzing your community’s abandoned property problem, even if the answers are not always readily available. Your answers to these and other questions will help you prioritize individual locations and choose |
the most appropriate set of responses.†† Before taking legal action, review the definition of “abandoned” to ensure the properties that are the object of your intervention meet all of the |
elements of the offense. An uninhabited and untended property may not meet the legal definition of “abandoned,” but it still can breed conditions favorable to crime, disorder, and poor health, |
which you should address before additional harms result. In these situations, the police may take limited corrective action and may observe and report conditions to the appropriate government agency (e.g., |
code enforcement, health department, fire department), who can investigate further. †† For a list of general questions to ask during a problem-solving exercise, see Geller (1998, 164 -168). ††† See |
Problem-Specific Guide No. 38, The Exploitation of Trafficked Women. †††† See Problem-Solving Tools Guide No. 3, Using Offender Interviews to Inform Police Problem Solving. ‡ This section was modified from |
the Bureau of Justice Assistance (n.d). Measurement allows you to determine to what degree your efforts have succeeded, and suggests how you might modify your responses if they are not |
producing the intended results. You should take measures of your problem before you implement responses, to determine how serious the problem is, and after you implement them, to determine whether |
they have been effective. You should take all measures in both the target area and the surrounding area. Bear in mind that at the outset of a response, some of |
these measures may increase before they stabilize and eventually begin to decline. For more detailed guidance on measuring effectiveness, see Problem-Solving Tools Guide No. 1, Assessing Responses to Problems: An |
Introductory Guide for Police Problem-Solvers and Guide No. 10, Analyzing Crime Displacement and Diffusion. The following indicators are potentially useful for measuring the effectiveness of responses to abandoned properties. These |
measures are divided into two groups: those that measure the impact on the problem (outcome measures), and those that measure your agency’s response to the problem (process measures). In addition |
to increased property values, indicators of successful outcome measures include reduced: Indicators of successful process measures include increased: Analyzing your local problem should give you a better understanding of the |
factors contributing to it. Once you have analyzed your local problem and established a baseline for measuring effectiveness, you should consider possible responses to address the problem. The following response |
strategies provide a foundation of ideas for addressing your particular problem. These strategies are drawn from a variety of research studies and police reports. Several of these strategies may apply |
to your community’s problem. It is critical that you tailor responses to local circumstances, and that you can justify each response based on reliable analysis. In most cases, an effective |
strategy will involve implementing several different responses. Law enforcement responses alone are seldom effective in reducing or solving the problem. Do not limit yourself to considering only what the police |
can do. Carefully consider whether others in your community share responsibility for the problem and can help the police better respond to it. In some cases, you may need to |
shift the responsibility of responding to those who have the capacity to implement more effective responses. (For more detailed information on shifting and sharing responsibility, see Response Guide No. 3, |
Shifting and Sharing Responsibility for Public Safety Problems.) For further information on managing the implementation of response strategies, see Problem-Solving Tools Guide No. 7, Implementing Responses to Problems. 1. Preventing, |
managing, and reusing abandoned properties. These three components outline the basic strategy for a policy dealing with abandoned properties. A comprehensive approach should incorporate at least some of these complementary |
measures, which are explained in detail under Specific Responses to Abandoned Properties and Lots. Prevention strategies are aimed at motivating the current owner to maintain the property and remain in |
the house. Management strategies are aimed at taking appropriate enforcement action: seizing the property, or conveying it to a new owner who can manage it according to the law while |
working to restore it as a productive tax-generating parcel. Reuse strategies are aimed at restoring the property as a productive community asset by creating a market for it and collecting |
property taxes. 2. Streamlining and coordinating local bureaucracy, reporting mechanisms, and infrastructure.Lack of coordination, fragmentation, a reactive posture, intermittent attention, little information sharing, and little cross-training among agencies are obstacles |
to effective responses.35 Coordination is complicated without a real-time, centralized, and fully integrated electronic record-keeping system that is accessible to each department 24 hours a day; most jurisdictions have disparate, |
stand-alone systems that are not connected or compatible. Broad access to information makes for a more efficient and coordinated strategy as it minimizes the likelihood that different agencies will take |
conflicting action against the same property. Assess how you can co-locate resources and share information to avoid redundancy, and identify a single coordinator to drive a proactive and comprehensive strategy |
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