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■ To support federal funding to provide short -term assistance for HRAs in order to <br />facilitate the sale of tax- exempt bonds. <br />III -G Vacant and Boarded Properties <br />There has been an epidemic of mortgage foreclosures in the state, and the number of <br />foreclosures continues to increase as more homeowners cannot afford to pay their existing <br />mortgages, and as many homeowners find themselves "underwater" in their mortgages, <br />with the result that some homeowners are choosing to walk away from their homes rather <br />than paying more than the home's value. As the economy continues to be challenged, and <br />recovery is expected to be slow, foreclosure levels are expected to continue to rise over the <br />next couple of years. <br />While mortgage foreclosures are responsible for a significant portion of vacant and <br />boarded properties, they are not the only cause. Abandoned residential and commercial <br />properties can be devastating to communities when the presence of vacant buildings <br />results in reduced property values and increased crime. The additional public safety and <br />code enforcement costs of managing vacant properties are a financial strain on cities. <br />Metro Cities supports solutions to vacant and boarded properties that recognize three <br />things: (1) Prevention is more cost effective than a cure. (2) The causes of this problem are <br />many and varied, thus the solutions must be as well. (3) It is not simply a "city" problem so <br />cities must not be expected to bear the bulk of the burden of mitigation. <br />Further, Metro Cities supports some specific proposals: <br />I <br />■ Improvement of the redemption process to provide increased notification to renters, <br />strengthen the ability of homeowners to retain their properties, and reduce the amount <br />of time a property is vacant; <br />• Expedite the tax forfeiture process; <br />• Improve the cost assignment process to ensure that cities can recoup their costs of <br />managing vacant properties; <br />• Improve ability of cities to recoup the increased public safety and enforcement costs <br />related to vacant properties; <br />• Increase financial tools for neighborhood recovery efforts, including tax increment <br />financing; <br />• Identification of the various causes of vacant and boarded properties; <br />2011 Legislative Policies 17 <br />