It's that time of year again, where seasons may change but the risk of tax-forfeited properties being sold to slumlords does not. A nineteen-page list of Minneapolis tax forfeitures was recently sent to neighborhood groups from the city of Minneapolis. Credit where credit is due: I've been critical of the city's policies surrounding vacant houses, but they've been a good partner on tax forfeitures. Specifically, we used to get lists with only a few days to respond with neighborhood organizational positions on what to do with these houses and vacant lots. The city really went to bat for our communities with the argument that this simply wasn't enough turnaround time. Now we have until November 26th to submit comments.
The Jordan neighborhood has roughly two dozen such tax forfeitures, although for the purpose of this and subsequent blog posts, I will focus only on houses and not vacant land. As I took a look at each Jordan property, like 2122 Ilion Ave N pictured above, I came to two conclusions. There wasn't a single one I'd tear down (except the one that was already demolished by the time I got there), and there wasn't a single one I'd consider an acceptable slumlord acquisition. So it's time to put our city and county government on notice: We are watching how this process plays out, and it better result in a better north Minneapolis.
Jordan has a baker's dozen tax-forfeited properties with structures on them. Twelve, technically, but the thirteenth was an arson-damaged home that was torn down after the list was generated. Aside from the Ilion house, we have...
