Zimmerman’s Bill Giving Locals More Tools to Address Blighted Properties Advances
One Community Update
February 16, 2024
Source: Yahoo! News
State Rep. Alex Zimmerman (R-North Vernon) said his bill to help local communities better address blighted properties recently advanced out of the Indiana House of Representatives unanimously.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, vacant or abandoned properties can have profound negative impacts on communities including hurting property values, attracting crime and nuisance pests, and presenting health and safety hazards.
To tackle these issues, Indiana’s Unsafe Building law gives cities, town and counties the ability to order the repair or demolition of unsafe buildings. However, Zimmerman said local communities struggle to address derelict or abandoned mobile homes and are seeking the tools to do so via legislation.
“Blighted properties cause issue after issue for communities until they’re either repaired or torn down, and we’ve seen prolonged cases where locals don’t have the legal tools needed to resolve issues involving mobile or manufactured homes,” Zimmerman said. “Our goal is to close a gap in state law so that locals can address these problems, which present risks and dangers to the inhabitants and those around them.”
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