Promoting responsible investment in high-foreclosure neighbourhoods
American urban neighbourhoods have suffered from many foreclosures in the past few years. Due to the financial crisis a lot of people were forced to leave their homes because they could not afford their mortgage anymore. According to the report ‘When investors buy up the neighbourhood’, neighbourhoods in the United States are now stabilising again, but they are being threatened by a new phenomenon: private investors who buy up foreclosed properties to sell or rent out for a profit. The fact that these properties are bought by private investors is damaging neighbourhoods, the report states. It therefore examines the issue of investor purchasing of foreclosed properties and presents a set up best practices being used in communities to prevent irresponsible investor ownership from leading to neighbourhood decline.
Description
The report ‘When investors buy up the neighbourhood: preventing
investor ownership from causing neighbourhood decline’, focuses on
2 neighbourhoods in the Twin Cities region (Minneapolis-Saint
Paul). The 2 neighbourhoods are low-income communities in the
region that have been hit the hardest by foreclosures, vacant
properties and upheaval in the housing market. Even though the
report focuses on a specific region in the United States, it
provides information and tools that can be used by other
communities that are trying to address this issue.
The report is organised as follows:
- What is the problem? Investor Ownership and its Challenges
- Strategies to Prevent Irresponsible Property Investors and Neighbourhood Decline
- Investor Ownership in the Twin Cities
- Recommendations for the Twin Cities
- Appendix
Conclusions
In order to deal with private investors whose business models
harm neighbourhoods the report recommends three major approaches:
- Encouraging homeowners and responsible investors to buy,
rehabilitate and maintain foreclosed properties;
- Strategically gaining control of foreclosed properties, and;
- Holding property owners accountable for property conditions.
Contact
Policy Link
1438 Webster Street, Suite 303
Oakland, CA 94612
United States of America
Tel: +1 510 663 2333
Fax: +1 510 663 9684
Contactperson: Janet A Dickerson, Press Secretary
+1 510 421 41 57
janet@policylink.org
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Reference material
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Report | When investors buy up the neighbourhood
01 Apr 2010, pdf, 1MB