Vacant, Abandoned or Distressed Property

From Mayor Adams:

Dear Portlander,

In response to community feedback, I recently requested that the Revenue Bureau, the Bureau of Development Services (BDS) and the Bureau of Technology Services (BTS) work on a solution to a liveability issue in Portland: vacant or abandoned properties.

These properties often contribute to public safety hazards and create a nuisance for neighbors. Squatting, looting, illegal camping, and creating an unsupervised, unsafe place for youth to gather make these properties more than just an eyesore—they're often dangerous and a community burden.

However, addressing these distressed properties can be incredibly challenging. It's often difficult and sometimes impossible to find out who actually owns these homes or businesses due to a lack of easily accessible contact information for the owners. Often neighbors, schools, and community groups will make complaints to the City, but an inability to track down the actual responsible party creates major delays in addressing the code violations, crimes, or neighborhood livability issues.

This is why we have created the Vacant Properties Resolution. This resolution would dramatically help by creating a mandatory online registration system for abandoned or vacant property owners. This system would ensure that public officials know how to contact the owners and require them to take responsibility. Property owners would have to pay a fee and register full contact information for any and all vacant, abandoned, or distressed properties. Failure to register a property within 30 days would result in a series of tiered fines that increase with multiple violations.

This policy would ensure that when citizens have complaints and concerns about distressed or blighted properties, officials have a way to contact the owners and address the issue. This way we help Portlanders keep their neighborhoods safe and liveable.

We'd love to hear your comments on this important Resolution.  Please share your comments on our blog or email  Clay Neal, Director of Public Safety and Peacekeeping at clay.neal@portlandoregon.gov.

Thanks for helping us keep our neighborhoods safe and healthy.

Onward,

Sam Adams

Portland Mayor