Consolidating propeties and selling them as a block would only work if contiguous properties are available, and many times that is not the case. So, eminent domain would have to be used by the city. The city needs to stop trying to do things that it can not do. City government throws ideas at the wall and sees what sticks. They feel that they are succesful when they make an effort, however, the effort they need to make is to stay focused on the issues at hand, mainly public safety and infrastructure maintenance and repair.
Any investment that is not market driven is likely to be a bad long-term investment. The city needs to enforce existing laws and go after owners who do not maintatin their properties, whether it be the banks, HUD, corporations or individuals. The city should provide leadership and help each neighborhood help itself to enhance its quality of life. But the city, as well as real estate developers needs to stop pretending that they can create homeowners out of thin air. Instead, the message should be to citizens that homeownership requires a personal financial commitment, not just relaxed lending standards. If all of these homes are vacant and foreclosed, there must be a surplus of housing and in many cases, the homes and/or neighborhoods are not desirible. If so, no amount of government intervention is going to change that fact. The best that the government can do is to focus on improving the quality of life for the remaining residents and ridding these communities of domestic criminals and illegal alien criminals.
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