The number of vacant properties in the United States has increased dramatically in the past 10 years, which has left local governments with considerable costs. In fact, many states have experienced a 70 percent increase in the number of vacant properties to deal with; additionally, there were over 10 million such properties by April of 2010. American City & County points out that “In 2010, government-sponsored enterprises reimbursed servicers or vendors more than $953 million for property maintenance costs, but local governments are bearing a considerable amount of the expense, as well.”
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a new report on the impact of vacancies and while federal dollars have helped local officials cover some of the costs, many have still spent millions of dollars maintaining or demolishing properties. The report states the following about feedback from locals in determining accurate figures:
“Local government officials and community group representatives told us that distinguishing among different types of vacant properties is important to be able to identify the number of properties that are likely to impose costs on the community. As we noted above, the Census vacancy status categories can be useful in identifying some vacant properties, such as those in the “other vacant” category, that may be more likely to be unattended and so might burden local governments as opposed to those that are likely to be maintained, such as those that are for seasonal use.”
You can read the full GAO report here and the graph below provides a picture of how vacancies have risen in the past 10 years:
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