abandoned properties Archives

Housing

Homeless Mothers in California Show How Radical Housing Activism Becomes Lasting...

Josh Cohen - December 22, 2020

Moms 4 Housing and LA Reclaimers have proven that successful grassroots organizing can turn headline-grabbing occupations into long-term affordable housing.

Squatters occupy the Arion building in Seattle after it sat vacant for months. There are signs that read "Operation Homestead" and "It's Alive" outside the large white building.

Housing

History Shows that in Times of Crisis, Housing Activists Get Radical

Josh Cohen - June 16, 2020

A recent spate of vacant home occupations echo squatters campaigns of the past.

State policies on everything from taxation to land bank funding can make the difference between a vacant property and a well-care-for property like this one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Policy

State Policies Play a Central Role in the Fight Against Vacant...

Miriam Axel-Lute - November 13, 2018

Abandoned and vacant properties seem like a quintessentially local problem. But state policies have a huge effect on how well municipalities can fight it.

A once-vacant lot in Philadelphia that has been cleaned.

Neighborhood Change

Greening Vacant Lots: Low Cost, Big Effect in Philly

Maggie Loesch - November 13, 2018

A Philadelphia program is cleaning up abandoned lots, helping formerly incarcerated residents get jobs, and improving the overall health and well-being of neighborhoods.

Research

Bringing Buildings Back (Expanded and Revised 2nd Edition)

Alan Mallach - December 21, 2010

Bringing Buildings Back addresses all sides of the abandoned and vacant property problem, from how abandonment can be prevented to how best to bring these properties back into productive reuse.