Funds approved to battle abandoned-homes problem

Sito Negron

Thursday, April 22, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.

After years of wrestling with the problem of abandoned and neglected houses, the Las Vegas City Council approved a plan on Wednesday that will put $1.5 million into a revolving loan fund aimed at fixing some of those houses.

The plan approved by the council also includes proposed legislation that would allow the city to take over properties if the owners ignore repeated requests to clean or repair them.

"We can't just move in and take property," Mayor Oscar Goodman said. But he added if, as Neighborhood Services Director Orlando Sanchez said, only 8 percent of people were sent orders to fix abandoned property respond, "That shows they (those who didn't respond) are scofflaws."

City officials have identified more than 100 abandoned houses within Las Vegas, most in Wards 3 and 5, although they showed up on a map prepared by Sanchez's department in every city ward except Ward 4.

Sanchez cited the broken-window theory, which holds that if simple things, like graffiti and broken windows, are not immediately addressed, they lead to more serious crimes and neighborhood decline.

He said as a last resort the city could turn to a state law that allows it to take over an abandoned property deemed to be a nuisance to the community.

However, he said, it would be preferable to work with the property owners first, using the $1.5 million revolving loan fund, which would take money from the city's general fund and from federal grants.

"What does $1.5 million buy us?" Goodman asked.

"We think about 10 homes," Sanchez said.

Goodman said if the program was successful, it would give the city an opportunity to press for more federal funding, since the idea fits with current programs designed to encourage homeownership as opposed to public housing.

Goodman thanked Todd Farlow, who attends virtually every council meeting, for "pushing us for four and a half years on this issue."

Sanchez's presentation also included the idea of establishing a geographic plan to either "cluster rehabilitation for maximum impact or scattered site rehabilitation for geographic diversity."

Councilman Lawrence Weekly, whose Ward 5 contains a large number of the abandoned homes, used his finger to draw a circle around dots on the map showing the vacant houses, and said "this is what we mean by blight."

However, he also said he wanted to make sure that people -- particularly senior citizens -- knew that the program is aimed at vacant houses, not homes in need of repair.

"I don't want people to be afraid their homes will be taken," Weekly said.

Among the other parts of the plan presented by Sanchez were: