DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE
CONTEXT
WHERE/WHEN APLICABLE
PAST RESPONSES
CURRENT RESPONSES
TESTIMONIES

DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
The City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) defines abandoned buildings as "any residential, commercial, industrial, or mixed-use building (excluding sheds and garages on residential property) that is not occupied and has visible signs of physical distress (i.e. boarded, burned, open to the elements, otherwise deteriorated, etc.)" (2001 Abandoned Building Survey).

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CONTEXT:
Unproductive space attracts crime and trash. In the 1960s, when the population in the Heart of the City declined, the number of abandoned properties skyrocketed, particularly in Roxbury and Dorchester along the Blue Hill Avenue corridor.

In the 1970s, the rehabilitation and reuse of abandoned buildings and vacant land was viewed as the key to the revitalization of the area (1977 Neighborhood Profile Reports).

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WHERE/ WHEN APPLICABLE:
Throughout the city of Boston, three-family homes made up the largest share of abandoned residential buildings in 2001 (37%).

According to a city survey of abandoned residential properties in 2001, 83% of the abandoned residential buildings in Boston were located in Heart of the City neighborhoods and, despite major strides taken in neighborhoods such as Dudley Square, half of the buildings were located in Roxbury. In 2003, Roxbury continues to have the largest number of residential abandoned buildlings (106), but the number is down dramatically since 1997 (-65%) and the number continues to drop, with a healthy 20% decrease in abadonment from 2002 to 2003.

Percentage of the total number of abandoned residential properties in the city in 2001:

Roxbury - 50%
Dorchester - 21%
Mattapan - 8%
Jamaica Plain - 4%

Percentage of the total number of abadoned residential properties in the city in 2004:

Roxbury - 40.2%
Dorchester - 18.2%
Mattapan - 6.7%
Jamaica Plain - 3%
Roslindale - 1.9%

The general trend in all of the Heart of the City between 1997 and 2003, however, was towards fewer abandoned buildings. In Boston as a whole, the number of abandoned buildings decreased by 67%. The following figures reflect the changes in specific Heart of the City neighborhoods:

Change in the number of residental abandoned buildings between '97 and '03: 

                         1997          2002           2003          %change
Mattapan            101                34                      23                -77%
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Jamaica Plain      37                    9                        8                -78%
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Roslindale           11                    5                        5                -55%
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Dorchester         166                  54                      48                -71%


(Abandoned Building Trends, Annual Report 2003)

Maps created by the DND based on a 2001 survey of abandoned properties in the city show that the overwhelming majority of available city-held property and abandoned private property in the Heart of the City is located in the communities east and northeast of Franklin Park. Vacant land is much more common in the Heart of the City than abandoned buildings. However, there are small clusters of abandoned buildings along Intervale and Warren Streets in Grove Hall, as well as in the Franklin Field neighborhood generally, both north and south of Harambee Park/ Franklin Field.

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PAST RESPONSES:
The 1977 Neighborhood Profile Report of Franklin Field describes some of the strategies that were employed in one neighborhood devastated by abandoned properties.

Between 1968 and 1976, the City of Boston spent $150,000 in the Franklin Field area on the demolition of abandoned buildings. The demolition work created pockets of vacant land as large as eight acres. Illegal dumping on these lots increased dramatically. Also between 1968 and 1976, the City spent $50,000 boarding up abandoned buildings. During this time period, there was very little private investment in the Franklin Field area and no investment in new housing or housing renovation (1977 Neighborhood Profile Reports).

Also in the 1970s, the City offered abandoned lots to abutters at very low prices to encourage the expansion of gardens and other productive uses of the space. At that time, the City believed the problem of housing abandonment was caused by low owner occupancy, fire, crime, lack of loans, foreclosure, and the tendency to cut back on home maintenance. The City saw the solution to housing abandonment in programs such as the Housing Improvement Program, which offered 20% and 40% rebates on the costs of home repair; the Revival Program, which sold vacant lots to abutters; the Victory Gardening Program, which facilitated gardening at the cost of the City; and the Open Space Management Program, which improved vacant lots (1977 Neighborhood Profile Reports).

Then in 1996, Boston adopted a "Clean It or Leave It" policy that pushes delinquent property owners to fix their property or lose it to the City. If owners fail to address the problems on their property the City pays for the work to be done and then bills the owner. The owner is then prevented from selling the property until the bill has been paid. If the bill is not paid, the City takes ownership of the property.

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CURRENT RESPONSES:
As of 2002, the DND is pursuing an information strategy for putting abandoned buildings into use. According to the DND website in 2002: "A street by street survey is conducted in target areas of the city which have historically had higher incidences of abandonment, while areas of the city that are less impacted by abandonment are surveyed less intensively. For each abandoned structure, a photograph is taken and detailed characteristics recorded. This information is then matched with assessing, building permit and tax title data to develop strategies for encouraging renovation or reclamation of these properties, where appropriate" (City of Boston Abandoned Buildings Survey).

The DND offers sophisticated web-based information and human assistance to those seeking to develop city properties through the Real Estate Management and Sales Program (REMS).

According to "Abandoned Building Trends," which is published by the Policy Development & Research Division of the DND, the next steps and potential areas of action in 2003 include:

Residental Abandonment
-- The number of newly identified abandoned buildings has fallen since 2002, but the number of privately owned buildings under renovation has also fallen, indicating that those properties that remain are the "hard core" properties. A coordinated effort between the DND, Inspectional Services, and the Tax Title Division of the City Law Department, lead by a staff person dedicated to this project (much like the successful "Top Ten Drug Dens" program) could make in difference in these properties.
-- Of the remaining residential abandoned buildings, 30% are tax delinquent. This would indicate that a specific push to foreclose on these buildings should be considered.
-- Of the newly identified buildings, 18% were due to fire. From fieldwork, it has become apparent that it takes more than one year for a building to recover from a major fire, and that some buildings are never rehabbed, becoming a long-term abandoned property. In addition to the provision of new "fire recovery" services, we must ask if owners (both owner occupants and landlords) are adequetely insured in case of fire. If not, what can we do to assist homeowners secure adequate homeowners insurance?

Commercial Abandonment
-- The number of identified commercial abandoned buildings has increased 22% between 2001 and 2003. While the survey has been more thorough over the last two years and there are difficulties in judging the abandonment of some storage buildings, there has been an overall increase in the number of abadoned commercial buildings.
-- Many of the commercial buildings are no longer economically viable and they should be assessed for demolition or adaptive re-use as residential properties. In some cases, these may be a viable commercial use for location, but building/site conditions may be prohibitively expensive.


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TESTIMONIES:
"We didn't understand that there was nothing we could really do [for businesses] when residential streets one block away were just coming apart. . . . Housing is the fundamental act of economic development" (Paul Grogan, former DND employee, from an article by Charles A. Radin, "A Neighborhood Reborn," The Boston Globe, Nov. 15, 1998).

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