Worcester A Recent Example Of Growing Trend To Turn To The Courts In Dealing With Vacant Foreclosures

In Worcester, Massachusetts, Reuters reports:

• Like many cities in the United States where the home vacancy rate has scaled its highest since records began in 1956, the former textile mill city of Worcester in Massachusetts is turning to the courts to fight back. Their target: banks who abandon properties and who leave behind a glut of empty, dilapidated houses that draw crime, cut tax revenue and depress nearby property values in a market already in a tailspin.

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• In February, [city manager Michael O'Brien] began asking judges to assign property managers to buildings at the expense of the mortgage companies. The idea is to stop tenants from being abruptly tossed out of a foreclosed home and to provide enough basic maintenance to keep it from getting condemned.

Reportedly, other cities are pursuing even more radical measures. For more, see Cities grapple with surge in abandoned homes.

Go here for other posts on vacant homes leaving its mark on neighborhoods. neighborhood destruction from foreclosures I