Vacant Foreclosed Homes A Headache For One California City

The Merced Sun-Star reports on calls for an emergency ordinance in Merced, California for dealing with the eyesores arising as a result of foreclosures and vacant houses that are causing health and public safety hazards for its neighborhoods:

• "[W]hen homeowners move out or abandon properties in foreclosure, the empty houses become magnets for a host of problems. With water turned off, grass turns yellow and becomes a fire hazard. Stagnant water in swimming pools becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Worst of all, dark houses with no signs of life houses attract vandals, drug dealers, and other criminals ... .

Reportedly, Merced's current law only allows the city to go onto the property one time, clean it up, and place a lien on the home for its costs. Some type of emergency ordinance is being called for so the city can go in, clean up, and then maintain these homes on a regular basis and get reimbursed for its ongoing costs by placing liens on the property as the maintenance is done. For more, see City works to tackle foreclosure eyesores (Council looks at ways to maintain abandoned properties on an ongoing basis). neighborhood destruction from foreclosures kappa