Vacant Properties Initiative

Hardly any city is immune to the problems — crime, fires, disinvestment, tax loss — caused by vacant and abandoned properties. Dilapidated buildings and vacant lots decrease property values, reduce tax revenues, discourage development and are potential fire hazards and magnets for crime. In many neighborhoods, however, they also represent tremendous redevelopment opportunities.

Until now, cities have struggled in relative isolation to solve those problems. To help municipalities and community groups address those problems, LISC created the Vacant Properties Initiative and in partnership with several other national organizations developed the National Vacant Properties Campaign.

LISC's Vacant Properties Initiative and the National Vacant Properties Campaign, helps communities intervene in the cycle of abandonment to stabilize and revitalize neighborhoods. It provides practitioners and policymakers with cutting-edge strategies and technical assistance to improve systems, policies, and practices that can help prevent abandonment and return vacant properties to productive use.