Vacant Properties
- There are 6,000 to 7,000 unsecured vacant properties and 13,000 vacant lots in Memphis.
- The county owns 3,000 of these properties and lots due to abandonment or delinquent taxes.
- From August 2004 to January 2011, 1,013 vacant fires cost taxpayers $18.2 million.
- In 2008 alone, the cost of vacant fires totaled $3.5 million.
- The majority occur in low-income, African American communities.
- Homeless EMS services from 2005 to 2009 cost $600,000—mainly in low-income communities of color.
Foreclosure
- From 2000 to 2010, foreclosure notices were issued to 94,923 property owners.
- Over 50 percent of these notices resulted in foreclosure—mainly in African American neighborhoods—due to predatory lending practices.
- 20 to 30 percent of Shelby County mortgages are “underwater” because of unethical in-house financing practices.
Our city and county code agencies are responsible for the enforcement of local property codes, but due to organizational overlap and a lack of information sharing, most codes in certain communities are ignored, resulting in vacant fires and other problems symptomatic of urban blight. In fact, 694 out of 933 fires were in one-to-two family residential units, which are typically overseen by the City of Memphis Code Enforcement. The simplest solution to this problem is to board up vacant properties. Only in 2008 did the Memphis Community Enhancement begin doing just that. The cost of boarding up a home is $600, and the cost of a fire is $17,500, which means $16,900 could be saved per fire. Although some actions are being taken to improve our neighborhoods, the greatest symptoms of urban blight continue to be ignored.
Recent Accomplishments
- Confronted Wells Fargo for unethical lending practices and their negative effects on low-to-middle-income communities of color. We also organized public action to recover over $65,000 in unpaid back taxes, code fines and fees owed to local government by Wells Fargo and Wells Fargo servicers.
- Educated the community on the reality of blight and corporate negligence through the BlightWatch YouTube series of 21 videos, which led to improved maintenance of properties in lower income areas and greater attention to the issue of blight by elected officials.
- Hosted the 2010 Community Action Summit, which was attended by representatives from over 35 neighborhood associations and community groups on issues of home foreclosures, fires in vacant properties and the need for comprehensive code reform.
- Secured signed pledges of the 2010 MSPJC People’s Agenda from all major candidates in the 2010 countywide elections, including current Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell. The People’s Agenda focused on issues of blight, affordable housing, criminal justice reform and public health.
- GOTV efforts in 2010 county elections included long-term targeted phone banking and door-to-door canvassing in three high foreclosure communities in County Commission district five. Voters contacted 2500 people.
- Worked with the Shelby County Register of Deeds, the Shelby County Trustee and the City of Memphis Treasurer to ensure proper documentation of ownership of foreclosed properties.
- Uncovered unethical banking practices whereby banks and lending institutions hid their ownership of blighted properties and passed on maintenance costs of their properties to Memphis and Shelby County.