by Deb Alter
Senator Kathy Marchione, Chair of the Senate’s Local Government Committee, has announced that her bi-partisan legislation to help local communities address the growing challenge of abandoned buildings has been unanimously passed by the New York State Senate. Hoosick Falls is one of the communities that could benefit from this legislation. It still needs to be passed by the State Assembly.
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(Deb Alter photo)
Following the 2008 economic crisis when the housing bubble burst, many real estate owners walked away from their properties, leaving banks and communities to deal with the fallout. The communities in our area were no exception. The abandoned buildings, sometimes called “zombie properties,” that were the result saddled communities with complicated, frustrating, and costly issues. For a long time now, counties, cities, towns and villages in New York State and across the country have not been able do anything while the buildings sat unsold and their conditions deteriorated, sometimes to the point of no return.
Many properties sit abandoned and unattended to for years, accumulating unpaid taxes and causing increased tax collection costs for the municipalities in which they are located. They also negatively impact the communities’ property values, economy, and quality of life. Many become eyesores or health hazards and can threaten public safety, turning into hangouts for illegal activities, including drugs. In addition, the deserted properties place added strain on local services and negatively impact economic development.
If the taxes remain unpaid, the County eventually forecloses on it – but this can take years. By then it is often too late – the property may have deteriorated to the point that it’s unsellable or too expensive to fix. The problem becomes finding the funds to demolish it. For example, Wells Fargo Bank which owned a foreclosed building on Mechanic Street, offered The Village $20,000 to take it off their hands. After researching what it would cost to take it down (it is beyond repair), The Village was able to negotiate with the bank for $37,500 to cover the cost of its demolition. This was one of the very few abandoned properties that have been resolved to date.
Tearing down a building safely is difficult and hazardous, particularly if it has asbestos or other issues. The hope is that when a building is torn down, someone will buy the land from the village or town, build a house on it, and the property will get back on the tax rolls. Marchione’s bipartisan bill (Senate Bill S.5845) cuts the length of time that a village or town needs to wait for the county to foreclose in half, with the idea that getting a property back onto the market before it is too far gone improves the chances of finding someone who will repair it and make it productive again.
Hoosick Falls and the Town of Hoosick have been actively working with county and state agencies and lawmakers to turn the situation around. According to Hoosick Falls Mayor Dave Borge, the state and county are starting to realize how crucial this dilemma is to communities that are trying to rebuild. Recently, New York State made $25 million dollars available to help communities combat the zombie property situation. “I – we – have been in touch with the county and state. We want to be in on this and get a handle on the problem,” he said. The Village has started the process with strict code enforcement, and has come down hard on delinquent property owners to get all buildings up to code in general, securing the services of an attorney and a Code Enforcement Prosecutor. “Building Inspector Mark Surdam has had some good success in getting through to the banks,” he said, “it is complicated just to understand all the layers causing the problem, and it is even more complicated to sort it out and set it right. But we know how important it is to take care of this.”
“It needs to be a collaborative effort to make change,” Borge explained, “and we are doing that with government officials at every level, as well as with the banks and landlords. This is a major issue across the country, not just locally.” He said that Senator Marchione and Assemblyman Steven McLaughlin “are doing all the right things” and have been extremely helpful. Marchione’s legislation, which reduces the tax redemption period for properties certified as abandoned from the local building department official from two years to one. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Borge said.
There are many reasons the properties have been sitting empty and deteriorating. Some of the circumstances include the amount of time the law allows a property to be “officially” abandoned, difficulty in finding out who the structures belong to, and local officials being unable to identify or contact an actual person to deal with at the foreclosing institution. When a property is owned by a big national bank rather than a local one, it can be difficult to establish communication. Some have so many of the abandoned properties, they can’t effectively deal with all of them.
“In the confusion after the 2007 crash, some of the banks lost a lot of the paperwork, and so they don’t even know who owns or owned the property, and without it, they can’t sell,” explained Hoosick Falls Building Inspector and Town of Hoosick Supervisor, Mark Surdam. He likened it to trying to sell a car without having the title. “You can sell the car, but you can’t register it and put it on the road. Same with these properties; you can put them on the market, but you can’t go through with a sale,” he said. Sometimes, there is more than one bank involved with a single building, making it even more difficult to sort out.
“Another problem,” he added, “is that buildings get sold, sometimes sight unseen, at auction, then sold again, and then again, and no one does anything to improve them – they just keep getting turned over, compounding the problem.” The buildings are sometimes stripped inside of what’s usable, and then just left to rot. The multiple turnovers become an endless cycle and delay the process.
The American House on Elm Street is an example. It has recently been condemned, but Village authorities are having trouble getting in contact with the current owner, and the cost of demolition is expected to be high.
The Village of Hoosick Falls and the Town of Hoosick recognize the importance of fixing the abandoned property issue as part of the overall vision of rebuilding the Hoosick community. At the last Hoosick Rising meeting (June 3), it was evident that it is one of the Hoosick community’s top priorities. They are taking the necessary steps and working with the appropriate entities. Everyone understands that the process will not be quick and easy, but they are putting a lot of emphasis on making inroads wherever possible. [/private]