How Public Agencies Can Reduce Blight and Generate Revenue With Civil Litigation

• Publication year: 2023
• Author: Written by Ryan Griffith

HOW PUBLIC AGENCIES CAN REDUCE BLIGHT AND GENERATE REVENUE WITH CIVIL LITIGATION

Written by Ryan Griffith

Almost every city and county has abandoned, vacant, fire-damaged, or otherwise dilapidated properties. Often dilapidated properties blight neighborhoods for years, endanger communities, drive down property values, and harm neighborhood morale. Neighborhoods hope and expect a public agency like a city or county will fix the situation. Unfortunately, most citizens are unfamiliar with government departments and assume someone will solve the problem.

Perhaps citizens should expect more from their government. Hopefully, one day the government will run without any flaws or defects. However, since almost nothing is full proof expecting all government deficiencies to go away is unlikely. Therefore, in 2022, while public agencies do a great deal, their operations are not perfect.

COMMON RESPONSE TO NUISANCE: COLLECTIVE INACTION

As this scenario relates to nuisance properties, the problem requires exploration and explanation before resolution can be reached. Let's step into the shoes of a neighbor next to a nuisance property that has been burned down for months. At this property, transients dump trash and occasionally spend the night. The transients do hard drugs and leave syringes littered on the neighborhood. They make noise all night and engage in dangerous behavior. The burned down property becomes a daily eyesore and source of frustration that impacts every aspect of your life. This is obviously a problem, but who do you call?

Usually the property is vacant, so one does not think to call the police. Even if the police are called, they may temporarily resolve the problem by stopping the transient dangerous behavior temporarily. The police may even make an arrest for a minor offense like trespassing or drug possession, but other transients or the same ones that were arrested will likely return. While police might offer a temporary reprieve, they are not a long-term solution for this scenario.

This same neighbor might think the fire department is worth calling, because the property is fire damaged. However, there is no active fire, and the fire department cannot offer much help. This property has numerous code violations, which means the building department can inspect and red tag the building. However, other than adding a red sign to the building and possibly issuing an administrative citation to an absentee owner, not much will happen. The red tag does little to deter transients that do not actually live there. In fact, the red sign alerts

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transients that nobody is responsible for the property, which attracts more danger.

SOLUTION: PRIORITIZING HEALTH AND SAFETY RECEIVERSHIPS

If the owner is unable or unwilling to fix the property and police, fire, and building departments cannot fix the property, who can? The answer may surprise you. Public agency attorneys can seek judicial relief by using records from police, fire, and building departments. One of the most effective remedies in the arsenal of a local agency's legal counsel for nuisances involving abandoned property is Health and Safety Receiverships.⁰¹ Of course, other actions such as Drug Abatement Act lawsuits,⁰²Red Light Abatement,⁰³ Nuisance,⁰⁴ and Vacant Property Ordinances,⁰⁵ Eminent Domain,⁰⁶ and other remedies are available to public attorneys as well.

In summary, Health and Safety Receiverships, which are codified at California Health and Safety Code sections 17980.6 and 17980.7, allow a public agency to appoint a...