This might be a dead-horse issue. Detroit faced a similar problem decades ago and, upon enforcement, property owners realized it was cheaper to abandon the properties than to pay the taxes.
In the 60’s, Trenton faced a similar plight, but it used the newly-passed Manpower Development and Training Act (MDTA) to find a solution. They took the abandon properties and worked an agreement with the trades unions to take unemployed youth in the area and make them apprentice members. In return, the city provided funds to rehab the properties which were then sold to owner-occupiers. The sale allowed the next property to be rehabbed and put that property back on the tax roles. The union got new members. The win-win was so successful that the program made Trenton less reliant on DC, so the gov’t stepped in an shut the program (and MDTA) down.
It was a great story until the unfortunate (and inevitable) ending.
I am surprised to learn of this program and that it worked well. I am not at all surprised to learn of the government shutting it down.
I enrolled in a trade school in 1970 funded by the Manpower Development and Training Act (MDTA). This was in Tennessee.
What Trenton did was apparently too sensible for New Jersey politicians; not getting their cut, I guess.
Correct. As Ma’amdami punishes landlords it won’t be long before the NY Post runs the headline “The Bronx is Burning..Again.
If the property owner donates the property to a non-profit organization, does the tax liability go away? Better optics than abandoning the property.