Events

Vacant Buildings a Growing Blight: Leaders From Across the Nation to Meet on Issue in Louisville

The Ford Foundation is the principal sponsor of the National Vacant Properties conference in Louisville, Kentucky, a forum for leaders from across the country to share innovative, cost-effective strategies to build stronger neighborhoods and address the foreclosure crisis, featured in the following article.

Published in The Courier-Journal: May 31, 2009
By Alex Davis

There are 6,487 vacant buildings in Jefferson County, including some with boarded windows, dangling gutters and gaping holes in their roofs...

The number of vacant properties in Louisville has risen, mostly due to a surge in mortgage foreclosures, from 4,731 recorded by city and county government in 2006, said Bill Schreck, director of the city's Department of Codes and Regulations, which keeps track of vacant properties.

Other U.S. cities are also struggling to deal with vacant property rolls, and this week a national conference on the issue will be held at the Galt House Hotel & Suites. An estimated 500 people from 33 states are expected to attend, from bankers and politicians to affordable-housing experts and the head of the National Urban League...

The event is sponsored by the nonprofit National Vacant Properties Campaign, which is funded in part by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ford Foundation and the Fannie Mae Foundation.

Read the complete article »

Visit Reclaiming Vacant Properties for additional information on the National Vacant Properties conference.