Landlord Troubles
Meghan Hoyer and Matthew Jones of The Virginian-Pilot have just concluded a terrific series that details why so much housing in its community sits vacant and vandalized. Their "Cashing in on Blight" describes how local governments do a lousy job tracking and policing large landlords, allowing them to delay paying taxes, repeatedly violate building codes and let their properties deteriorate. Hoyer and Jones focus on one real estate development company that owns more than 250 properties, about half of them vacant and many of them decrepit. A great interactive map shows where the vacant houses are clustered and allows readers to see photos and descriptions of some of the individual homes. The three-part series is already producing results as local officials start cracking down on the real estate company. http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=120726&ran=203890&tref=de