Do you care about struggling communites? Take action!

September 11th, 2009
By Sara Wolfson

As we said yesterday, vacancy is a serious issue—and due to increasing foreclosures, job layoffs, and bankrupted businesses, more houses are sitting vacant in our communities than ever before. In some cities — like Buffalo, NY, Youngstown, OH, or Charleston, WV — population loss and abandonment have been part of the story for a long time. These vacant and abandoned properties drain municipal budgets, contribute to the decline of city neighborhoods, and pose health and safety risks for the residents that remain. In today’s troubled economy, it isn’t getting any better.

A new bill before Congress would provide a path to prosperity for cities struggling with long-term population loss and abandonment — encouraging new approaches and coordinating existing resources for strategies that already work. By creating a new grant opportunity, the Community Regeneration, Sustainability, and Innovation Act of 2009 gives local governments the tools they need for preventing, managing, and reclaiming vacant properties.

Take one minute to tell your member of Congress to help our struggling communities become healthy again by supporting this important bill.

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5 Responses to “Do you care about struggling communites? Take action!”

  1. Mike Says:
    September 18th, 2009 at 8:47 am

    This sounds like an innovative approach worth supporting. Is there a reason that rural communities facing the same issues are excluded from it?

  2. Sara Wolfson Says:
    September 18th, 2009 at 8:55 am

    That’s a really interesting comment. According to Jennifer Leonard from the National Vacant Property Campaign, rural communities are not excluded from the bill, as long as they demonstrate significant vacancy rates. The funding is split 50/50 between large communities (above 150,000 residents) and smaller (anything below 150,000 residents.)

  3. Mike Says:
    September 18th, 2009 at 11:24 am

    Thanks for the clarification. I think I inferred an exclusion since the bill appears to target larger communities.

    Many of the small rural communities (those under 5000) in our part of the country have endured 50-80 years of population decline, leaving vacant houses and declining home values. Now, as these communities work to stem the decline, we find few resources available to address the issue.

    I hope the bill’s final version (should it pass) makes it possible for small rural communities to take advantage of this opportunity.

    Thanks again for making people aware of this bill.

  4. Tim Says:
    September 30th, 2009 at 9:52 am

    What is the likelihood of this legislation being enacted?

  5. Smart Growth Around America » Blog Archive » Congressional briefing on the Regeneration Act Says:
    October 23rd, 2009 at 10:08 am

    [...] you interested in learning more about the way that the Regeneration Act currently before Congress could aid struggling communities, or about how other struggling communities are developing forward-thinking approaches to rebuild [...]