Vacant Lots

"Hopkinsville has a vacant lot problem--a big one."

A discussion of vacant lots is not a topic residents of a community might consider very interesting or a high priority on the surface.

But when you frame it from the perspective of crime, wasted tax dollars, decreasing neighborhood wealth, housing inventory, and general economic development, the topic becomes considerably more interesting.

Hopkinsville has a vacant lot problem--a big one. A community of 30,000 residents should not have nearly 1,000 vacant lots. Yet here we are! The only municipality in Kentucky with this many vacant lots or more is Louisville--a city of 700,000 residents.

How did we get here? We allowed it to happen. While the city addressed the issues of abandoned structures and vacant lots by fining property owners and placing liens on the properties, the liens were allowed to stack up to the amount of nearly $13 million. Long-story short, we weren’t aggressive enough. We didn’t put the necessary resources, and, honestly, willpower into the effort.

The Center for Community Progress reports that “vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated

properties—referred to by some as ‘blighted properties’—pose significant costs to public health, property values, local taxpayers, and more. Failing to address vacant homes, abandoned houses, and empty lots costs more in the long run and causes more harm over time.”

But in the end, everything changes. The City of Hopkinsville is ramping up code enforcement, land bank, internal software, marketing and educational campaigns, a Lot Next Door Program (LND), and soon, a very aggressive lien and mass foreclosure program that will target those lots we can take to court and then disperse through LND, Land Bank, or sell on the courthouse steps.

This is not a land grab. We simply have no choice. Residents are tired of living next to urban jungles of overgrown grass, trash, and weeds. Taxpayers should be tired of the city spending nearly $200,000 a year just to cut grass — with no end in sight.

Therefore, we created a Growing Home campaign to address the issue. The campaign will take time, resources, and determination, but we cannot turn back. It’s a shift in culture. Consequently, the outcome is a win-win-win. The taxpayers and property owners win, neighborhoods win, city departments win, and ultimately, the community prospers.

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