Atlanta city leaders consider use of city funds to buy blighted properties

ATLANTA - In an ongoing effort to clean up Atlanta's streets, city leaders are now considering plans to purchase blighted properties from owners who’ve failed to upkeep them over the years.

Last week, council members approved a "blight tax" that would penalize those property owners. The other idea that came up was using city funds to take the abandoned properties off their hands completely.

"There are a lot of options on the table for the city when it comes to property development," Atlanta City Member of council Michael Bond said.

Bond says first responders being called to emergencies at abandoned properties is a common and costly occurrence.

"Responding to vagrants on the property, responding to fires, responding to illegal dumping…that’s a real cost to the city of Atlanta," he explained.

That’s why he and other members of the city council are considering buying those properties back from neglectful owners.

"What has been discussed is that the city of Atlanta will make an offer to these property owners just to do a general transaction…if someone is not able or willing to maintain their property to keep it in a productive use, the City of Atlanta would try to acquire that property," Bond said.

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Bond says it could save the city millions of dollars in the long term and give lower income residents more options for housing that’s within their means.

"Depending on the shape of the property and how much it might cost to rehab…that might be a site we could use for the development of more affordable housing throughout our city," he stated.

One potential plan is to place the properties in the possession of urban housing authorities or go through the bidding process to select private developers.

Bond says the city cannot use eminent domain to take the old housing properties and redevelop them into new housing because of Georgia state code. City leaders will continue discussions about this at their next meeting.