Communities are weary of the blighted properties plaguing our city, a message the administration heard repeatedly during a series of town hall meetings. Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta Police Department agree the issue must be addressed.
APD took over code enforcement duties almost two years ago. While handling an annual workload of more than 10,000 cases per year, the Code Enforcement Section has subsequently taken action on a 4,500-case backlog and addressed 1,200 inactive cases. In the last four years, the city has demolished eight apartment complexes and 144 houses, and has cleaned and secured an additional 141 properties.
Blight begets blight. Abandoned properties depress prices in neighboring areas and threaten to drive other owners into foreclosure or insolvency.
Addressing this is challenging. Georgia property law favors the owner over other interests. This protects property from unwarranted seizure at the hands of any entity, including municipalities. There have been cases elsewhere in the country where municipalities have abused seizure powers. To prevent this, Georgia sets a high bar for use of eminent domain.
Condemned property must remain off the tax rolls for 20 years, which prevents the property from returning to private use. While this may be acceptable in very constrained circumstances, two decades of vacant lots next door is not an optimal outcome for homeowners or the city. Instead of condemnation, the city relies on the In Rem process. This permits the city to demolish without seizure a building that meets a legally defined blight criteria.
Again, state law places a high hurdle before a municipality can destroy someone’s home. First we must investigate and build the case for demolition, which often takes weeks. Second, we must cite the owner, which requires we find the owner — a daunting proposition. Many properties are abandoned, have muddy titles and require significant legal work and expense to clarify.
Then, we must face a rigorous independent evaluation involving a board or judge before receiving legal authorization to demolish a structure. Even this can take many months and, in some complex cases, years. While the timeline can frustrate a citizen living nearby, the rigor is designed to make sure no home is destroyed inappropriately.
We estimate the demolition needs of the city exceed $40 million. We have identified two potential solutions that could go a long way in eradicating blight. First, we need an exemption in the eminent domain law to allow seized, blighted property to be returned to the tax rolls immediately. Second, we should allocate a percentage of the state’s HomeSafe Georgia program to demolish selected, prioritized structures to protect neighboring communities and keep people out of foreclosure and in their homes.
We will continue to work with our partners at the state level to aggressively employ all tools at our disposal to take down these structures as quickly as possible.
Maj. Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis is commander of the Atlanta Police Department’s Code Enforcement Section.
