WHAT ARE VACANT PROPERTIES?

We define vacant properties as vacant residential, commercial, and industrial buildings and lots that exhibit one or both of the following traits:

• The site poses a threat to public safety (meeting the definition of a public nuisance), or
• The owners or managers neglect the fundamental duties of property ownership (e.g., they fail to pay taxes or utility bills, default on mortgages, or carry liens against the property.)

Vacant properties include abandoned, boarded-up buildings; unused lots that attract trash and debris; vacant or under-performing commercial properties, known as greyfields (such as under-leased shopping malls and strip commercial properties); and neglected industrial properties with environmental contamination, known as brownfields.

The Campaign also monitors deteriorating single-family homes, apartments with significant housing code violations, and housing that remains vacant for long periods of time, as these are indicators of future vacancy and abandonment. State laws and uniform building codes further refine what constitutes an abandoned building. Often these structures have been unoccupied for over a year, are beyond repair, and pose serious danger to public safety.