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Always Be
Foreclosing
Two
Commissioners Propose Foreclosing on Abandoned Properties
By Ryan
Brown
What can
the city of Miami do about the numerous abandoned and poorly
maintained properties within its municipal boundaries? The
answer is more complicated than you might think.
“There are
certain commercial properties on certain important corridors
in Miami that are noncompliant, that have been noncompliant
for years. … These properties are one of the main causes of
the blight of the city of Miami,” says District 2
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff.
Why do the
owners let their properties fall into such disrepair?
“Their intention is to hold onto the land until the property
value increases. … They’re warehousing the land, waiting for
a gold rush,” says Sarnoff.
“They think, ‘Let me just leave it like this, maybe some
developer will come into the area and build a condo or
something,’” says District 4 Commissioner Tomas Regalado.
In the
meantime the land attracts all sorts of problems,
commissioners say.
“The
property deteriorates and deteriorates. It’s an eyesore;
people use it for drug use, homeless people use it, somebody
starts a fire. …” Regalado says.
According
to Mariano Loret de Mola, director of Miami’s Code
Enforcement Department, a cycle occurs in which “homeless
and vagrants” occupy many of these unused buildings. They
are usually offered shelter by a group that works for
Miami’s NET. “If they accept, they usually return to the
abandoned property in a few days; then the police come by
and arrest them,” says de Mola. “It’s a constant problem.”
Commissioners Sarnoff and Regalado propose foreclosing on
these properties more frequently.
“The city
has a long list of properties with extreme code violations
and yet the city has done only one foreclosure. There’s no
purpose fining the people because, you know, who cares? You
have properties that are running fines of $300,000 and
$400,000 but they could care less, because the city is not
using the power of the court to foreclose on those
properties. These violations are just paper. …” says
Regalado. (No one from the city of Miami could provide the
SunPost with a list of these alleged delinquent properties
or provide an accurate number by deadline.)
Why doesn’t
the city exercise its foreclosure power more often?
“It’s a
lengthy process,” says de Mola. “The city has to evaluate if
the property … is worth foreclosing. You can’t have a
property where the value is $200,000 and they owe $350,000
in taxes and liens with the bank. The city won’t foreclose
on that one because they’d lose money.”
Another
problem, according to de Mola, is that many noncompliant
properties can make simple adjustments to fall just within
compliance, while still leaving the property in disrepair.
“All they
need to do is get plywood boards and put them over the doors
and windows … just close the place so people can’t get in or
out. That will suffice for compliance … but, of course,
people just move the boards and start living in there,” de
Mola says.
De Mola
concludes that in order to get the owners to repair and
develop their properties in a given amount of time, the city
would have to pass a new ordinance.
“What we
have at the present time does not allow us to do that,” says
de Mola.
“At the end
of the day, it’s the residents around these properties that
suffer,” says Regalado. “These places are attracting rats
and all sorts of problems. … People are scared.”
Whether the
city will take action to force owners to maintain their
properties, or even get them up to code, is still unclear —
but so far, the city’s talking a good game.
“The way
New York City cleaned up its act and the way 42nd
Street became [as] clean as it is today was through a theory
of zero tolerance,” Sarnoff says. “They said, ‘We’re going
to look different today,’ and they did that by not accepting
and not agreeing that the status quo was acceptable. … We
shouldn’t accept the status quo. We as a city can shape what
the city will look like simply by enforcing our laws, and
the best way you can enforce the law is to take someone’s
property who is completely noncompliant.”
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