Monroe County Clerk Adam Bello announced the creation of the task force on Thursday. It is made up of lawmakers, bank leaders, neighborhood groups and other community leaders. Some of the goals include reducing the number of properties that go into foreclosure and improving the upkeep on vacant homes.
Members of that task force want to help create changes to laws associated with these homes. It's important to remember a lot of these vacant homes are owned by banks headquartered hours away from Rochester. We asked Monroe County Clerk Adam Bello how he'd get them to fall in line.
Alexander Swydynsky lives across the street from a zombie home in Irondequoit. The zombie property is in rough shape; the roof is sagging and a vacancy notice has been on the front door for the past three years.
"The property is worth more with the house down than with it up," says Swydynsky. "With the three years that I've been here, I notice that the bank has not been able to do anything about it."
We checked with the county clerk's office and found out that U.S. Bank began to foreclose on this house earlier this year. Four years after another bank began a similar process. There are thousands of vacant properties like this across the Rochester area.
"We know what the problem is," says Monroe County Clerk Adam Bello.
Thursday, Bello announced the creation of the Vacant and Abandoned Property Task Force -- made up nearly of two dozen people. We asked Bello what he would do about the banks.
"There are representatives from the banks who serve on the task force and we'll be asking them to come in and talk about some of the challenges they have," says Bello.
Chris Horvatits: "These are banks that are headquartered in large cities nowhere near here that may or may not even care. So in what way can you make them care?"
Bello: "That's what speaks to the regulatory and statute changes we're going to recommend and advocate for on the state and federal levels."
Horvatits: "Can you give us a preview as to what some of those statutory changes might be?"
Bello: "That's what the task force is for. I don't want to put the cart before the horse."
Swydynsky hopes the task force listens to people just like him. "They can involve the people in the community to actually voice their opinions."
Swydynsky will have a change to do that. The task force will be holding meetings throughout the county this June and July.
Resource: http://www.whec.com
Members of that task force want to help create changes to laws associated with these homes. It's important to remember a lot of these vacant homes are owned by banks headquartered hours away from Rochester. We asked Monroe County Clerk Adam Bello how he'd get them to fall in line.
Alexander Swydynsky lives across the street from a zombie home in Irondequoit. The zombie property is in rough shape; the roof is sagging and a vacancy notice has been on the front door for the past three years.
"The property is worth more with the house down than with it up," says Swydynsky. "With the three years that I've been here, I notice that the bank has not been able to do anything about it."
We checked with the county clerk's office and found out that U.S. Bank began to foreclose on this house earlier this year. Four years after another bank began a similar process. There are thousands of vacant properties like this across the Rochester area.
"We know what the problem is," says Monroe County Clerk Adam Bello.
Thursday, Bello announced the creation of the Vacant and Abandoned Property Task Force -- made up nearly of two dozen people. We asked Bello what he would do about the banks.
"There are representatives from the banks who serve on the task force and we'll be asking them to come in and talk about some of the challenges they have," says Bello.
Chris Horvatits: "These are banks that are headquartered in large cities nowhere near here that may or may not even care. So in what way can you make them care?"
Bello: "That's what speaks to the regulatory and statute changes we're going to recommend and advocate for on the state and federal levels."
Horvatits: "Can you give us a preview as to what some of those statutory changes might be?"
Bello: "That's what the task force is for. I don't want to put the cart before the horse."
Swydynsky hopes the task force listens to people just like him. "They can involve the people in the community to actually voice their opinions."
Swydynsky will have a change to do that. The task force will be holding meetings throughout the county this June and July.
Resource: http://www.whec.com
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