Foreclosures are Compelling Cities to Become Reluctant Caretakers

Many towns like Lakeville and Burnsville do not have the resources to see to the many vacant foreclosed houses that are not only eyesores but also posing health problems to an extreme point.

The number of vacant houses in Dakota County has been rising while the number of desks lying empty in the city administrative offices also increasing. Both combined are casting a grim shadow over the localities that were once proud of house ownership.

The recession has worsened the foreclosure situation with more properties lying vacant and crumbling. Simultaneously the budgets of the cities have been dangerously curtailed. Many of them do not have the human or other resources to tackle this problem. Dave Olson of Lakeville Community and Economic Development said, “It’s a challenge. On top of everything else, [attending to the homes] is not revenue generating.”

In Burnsville Ron Anderson has been an inspector of properties from 1999. He said that his section has been paralyzed with this sharp increase in foreclosed units. Earlier this year an ordinance was issued by the city addressing the employees of the department to attend to the issues arising out of foreclosed houses.

The cost would be realized from special assessments made on the properties. But when the budget caused the staff to be reduced down from two full-time and one part-time worker to one inspector the workload became unmanageable. The ordinance came to be rescinded. In Lakeville the staff has also come down to one inspector.

Olson informed that his section is reliant on a list of sheriff’s sale given by the Dakota County Community Development Agency each month. In a sheriff’s sale the county takes over charge of selling the unit. Other troubled homes are disposed of through short sale with the lender agreeing to the borrower selling the unit for less than the money owed to it.

Till September 1,349 Sheriff’s sales have been noted. In 2008 the number was 2,063. In Apple Valley, Eagan, Lakeville and Burnsville the numbers are around 300 – it being modestly lower than the previous year.

The tendency all across the country has been for the states and the local administration to take up the cudgels themselves in tackling the problem of abandoned foreclosed houses. But with revenue collection being down there are budget constraints making the task difficult. The abandoned houses are attracting crime and disease.

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