An abandoned and vacant foreclosed property can pose health and safety threats to neighborhoods if left unattended for a long time. This is the reason why Galt City in California decided to clean up some of these foreclosure properties.
The city council has approved about $5,500 to be used to clean about six foreclosure houses in the area. These six foreclosure homes will be chosen by the city for its initiative because it could not find the owners who should be responsible for bringing the properties to comply with the city code.
The approved budget represented one-fourth of the total $20,000 amount originally recommended to clean almost 20 foreclosed properties. Councilman Andrew Meredith said that there is an urgent need to address issues of health and safety that foreclosure homes bring.
According to city officials, the allocated budget will be used on foreclosure houses with owners the city could not locate despite repeated attempts and multiple notices. The funds will be specifically used to repair broken fences in yards that have swimming pools, broken doors and windows and cutting dry vegetation and weeds that are fire hazards.
Industry experts said that without the approved budget, there is no way for Galt City to clean up foreclosed houses with owners who cannot be found.
Meanwhile, during a meeting where the original amount of $20,000 was recommended, the council wanted more research on the budget, expressing their concern over the economic issues that the city is currently facing.
Another concern of the council is whether the city will be required to pay the current wage if it uses a contractor. The city staff explained that intervention would only be made if the foreclosure property posed safety or health risk.
As of now, no foreclosed property has qualified to be cleaned up under the program. But industry experts said that with the foreclosure problem getting worst, it will not be long before the city has to use its resources for its clean up initiative.
This year, the number of abatement notices sent by the city to request owners to clean up their foreclosure properties has increased compared with last year. Typically, the owner is given a month to bring the foreclosed home into compliance. Failure to do so at the designated time would force the city to impose a lien on the foreclosure home.
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