Vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties plague communities of all types and sizes, from large cities to rural areas. Whether their impact is felt immediately following a disaster or cumulatively over many years, cities and towns with widespread vacancy often struggle with how to halt trends destabilizing communities and return vacant properties to productive purposes, including affordable housing, neighborhood market-building, and economic development. With new tools and strategies available today for communities to effectively address vacancy, it becomes even more important to understand the impacts and the driving forces behind vacancy and abandonment.  

This session will build a foundation for strategy development by understanding the impacts and triggers associated with VAD properties including: 

• The history and significance of VAD properties 

• How and in what ways they affect a community’s vitality and quality of life 

• The conditions and policies – economic, political, and environmental - which contribute to widespread vacancy, including housing market conditions, disasters, and ineffective or problematic laws, policies and practices.  

• Key issues in framing a strategy to address VAD properties in a community.