Mayor Stimpson Announces Overhaul of Blight Enforcement Efforts in Mobile
Mar 22nd, 2016
Changes to policy and City processes will speed evaluation and abatement of blighted properties
Mobile, Ala. - Mayor Sandy Stimpson today unveiled a series of initiatives to overhaul Mobile's blight enforcement efforts, reduce instances of blight, and enhance Mobile's neighborhoods. These initiatives aim to speed evaluation and abatement of properties by educating the community, streamlining legal processes for getting rid of blight, and making operations more effective and agile. The impact of blighted properties in Mobile is severe, costing residents more than $83 million in lost market value.
The package of initiatives includes streamlining City departments, increasing training for Municipal Enforcement inspectors, adopting international standards for property maintenance, and strengthening the City's Nuisance Abatement Ordinance to enhance and expedite the City's ability to enforce tough penalties on negligent property owners.
This work will be guided by a first-of-its-kind Blight Index that allows the City to prioritize cases based on structural integrity, ownership data and other contributing factors. Development of this tool was driven by Mayor Stimpson's Innovation Team (i-team), funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, in collaboration with officials across City departments. The scoring system for the Blight Index is open-source and can be used by other cities across the country.
"Every single Mobilian deserves a neighborhood they feel safe in and proud to be a part of," said Mayor Stimpson. "Today's announcement shows that we are deploying the right tools to the right structures for faster solutions."
In addition to the Blight Index, which allows the City to better utilize manpower and shorten time until resolution, Municipal Enforcement officers will receive new training and certification in the International Property Maintenance Code.
"Our team has the ability to be the very best at what it does, and our new training and certifications will prove it," said Deputy Director of Municipal Enforcement David Daughenbaugh. "By having the best trained personnel, using data to deploy resources, and strengthening our ordinances, we will create a safer, more vibrant Mobile."
Mobile is the first city in America to develop a comprehensive, digitally-mapped inventory of every blighted residential structure. To conduct the city-wide survey, the i-team utilized Instagram to geo-locate blighted properties. Capitalizing on the capabilities of Instagram, the City created a brand new mobile app that allows rapid cataloging and city-wide assessment. With new data on the the exact scope of the problem, the City can ensure the right resources are being deployed at the right time to the right property.
The data collected through this effort revealed that blighted properties comprise two percent of Mobile's housing stock and 25 percent (13,188) of Mobile's homes are within 150 feet of blight. Each of those homes sees an average negative $6,300 to their value, an $83 million loss city wide.
Historically, the Nuisance Abatement Ordinance has fallen short of producing dramatically better outcomes for neighborhoods in Mobile. Tougher penalties for owners of unsecured structures, which can become a haven for criminal activity and bring down surrounding property values, will remove incentives to abandonment and neglect. If the owner has taken no action after a violation, the City will take immediate steps to remedy the problem with the costs being borne by properties owners, and not the taxpayers.
With stronger enforcement tools in place, the City will have the ability to free 2,600 homes from the effects of blight restoring more than $10 million in real estate equity to local homeowners.
"Thanks to the leadership across our City departments, we believe we can make a measureable impact in reducing blight setting the groundwork for significant neighborhood revitalization," said i-team Executive Director Jeff Carter.
About the Mayor's Innovation Team:
Mobile is one of nearly 20 cities around the world participating in Bloomberg Philanthropies' Innovation Teams program. The program aims to improve the capacity of City Halls to effectively design and implement new approaches that improve citizens' lives. Innovation teams function as in-house innovation consultants, moving from one mayoral priority to the next. Using Bloomberg Philanthropies' tested Innovation Delivery approach, i-teams help agency leaders and staff through a data-driven process to assess problems, generate responsive new interventions, develop partnerships, and deliver measurable results.
For more information on the Mobile Innovation Team, please visit www.iteammobile.org and follow on Twitter and Facebook.