Dilapidated housing and the slew of problems that come with it are not confined to Huntington.
Cities large and small across West Virginia are facing the same dilemma and now are asking the West Virginia Legislature for help.
"We're trying to be more aggressive with abandoned housing, but the law restricts cities in so many ways," says Nancy Prager, economic and community development director for the city of Wheeling. "Funding for this problem will always fall short of the amount needed to resolve it, which says we need to do something differently. If we don't, we will only keep losing this battle."
Prager and other city officials point to the same factors when they are asked what is causing dilapidated housing: Declining population fueled by a loss or lack of jobs. As a result, property owners either don't have the means to repair an already aging housing stock or simply abandon it.
They leave behind vacant homes that drag down the value of neighboring properties and are magnets for drug dealing, prostitution or arson. Eventually, cities will tear them down with the precious few dollars they have set aside for the problem. Rarely do they recoup their expenses for demolition.
"I think it's very important that we show our legislators when they go to Charleston for the session in January that this scenario is not just being played out in one or two cities. It's happening statewide," Prager said. "That's the only way we will advance this issue in the Legislature."
West Virginia's smaller cities are not immune from abandoned housing either. Earlier this month, Summersville Mayor Robert Shafer told a committee of state lawmakers studying the issue that attempts to remove one building in the Nicholas County town got tied up in bankruptcy proceedings and consumed 5 percent of the town's budget.
"When you start looking at the amount of money it takes to demolish rundown buildings," Shafer said, "it becomes an issue of dollars versus public safety for small cities. We might be forced to leave these structures standing simply because we don't have the money."
The West Virginia Municipal League has been relaying cities' cries for help to state legislators over the past few months. Lisa Dooley, executive director of the Municipal League, said many cities are clamoring for more authority.
Liens, or debts attached to the property title, are one of the few tools that cities have to recoup demolition expenses.
But it is of little use to place a lien on a piece of property that the owner has abandoned or can't afford to maintain, Dooley said. It's not unusual for a lien to exceed the value of the property, which gives the owner little incentive to sell it, she said. Municipal liens also are wiped away when a piece of property is sold at a county tax lien sale.
That's why most cities are requesting legislation that would allow them to either take possession or force the sale of abandoned properties, Dooley said.
"We're not talking about taking Maw Maw Smith's property," she said. "We're talking about taking property that has been abandoned. It's the worst of the worst that we would be after.
"This has nothing to do with eminent domain, and I think we'll stand a better chance if we pinpoint that to legislators up front. Otherwise, we'll end up going to the Legislature for five or six years in a row."
Mayor David Felinton said Huntington will use the Municipal League as a conduit to propose legislation that allows local governments to create land banks.
The city also is incorporating land bank legislation into a home-rule plan that it will submit to the state by the end of the year. Up to five cities will be chosen for a five-year pilot home-rule program. A special panel will choose which cities get to participate by next June.
Though details are still being hammered out, Huntington officials say a land bank would allow the city to take ownership of an abandoned structure if the owner fails to pay taxes on it after two years. The city would partner with housing developers to rehabilitate the properties or demolish them and rebuild new housing. Other options would include turning the properties into green space or giving them to neighboring property owners.
The proposal is being modeled after a land bank in Flint, Mich.
Sen. Ed Bowman, D-Hancock, said the Legislature would probably give consideration to a land bank legislation if it is proposed. While West Virginia is a strong property rights state, Bowman said, "this concerns people who are abusing their rights by maintaining vacant, abandoned property. What about the rights of the people who have to live next door to these buildings?"
Bowman, who was mayor of Weirton from 1987 to 1995 and is chairman of the Senate Government Organization Committee, said lawmakers need to take a two-tiered approach when it comes to dilapidated housing.
"We have to recognize there are people who don't care about their property, and then there are people who should be given incentives because they either don't have the means or need to overcome the surrounding market forces that are working against investment in a neighborhood," he said.
"If someone wants to improve this property, they should be given some sort of tax benefits. We also need a tax system that says it will cost you dearly if you let your property sit there."
Bowman added any legislation dealing with dilapidated housing should not be mandated across the state.
"We should make whatever we do a local option," he said. "One tool might work for some cities, but not for others."
Delegate Jim Morgan, D-Cabell, also believes the Legislature should give cities more authority to address vacant housing issues. A land bank is a big departure from the methods in place now, and lawmakers would have lots of questions, such as what cities would do with vacant properties after they acquired them, he said.
"I'm certainly not an expert right now on how all this would work, but I'm willing to entertain any proposal that has worked elsewhere," Morgan said. "Based on what I've heard thus far, though, it sounds like it might very well work."
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