A Cincinnati Council Member wants to expand a pilot program that requires banks to register their foreclosed properties with the city. Right now it's being used in East and West Price Hill, Westwood, College Hill and Madisonville.
P.G. Sittenfeld said it has worked and the program is self-sustaining. He said banks are taking better care of the properties they own and the fees are generating enough revenue to pay for it.
“The pilot has really been a success in its primary goal of fighting blight and increasing safety” Sittenfeld said. “It’s also allowing us to contact more citizens in foreclosure and connect them with resources to help them through the process.”
A press release said the pilot has tracked more than 600 foreclosures and almost half of which are registered vacant with the city.
“Vacant properties too often become problems in our community. They bring down property values, lower our quality of life, and become magnets for crime.” Sittenfeld said. “Big banks and lenders should have to maintain their properties like the rest of the homeowners in Cincinnati, we’ve always said ‘too big too fail shouldn’t mean too big to mow the lawn’”.
City Council approved the pilot program more than a year ago, and the group would also have to give the okay if it's to go city-wide.
Sittenfeld and community leaders will hold a press conference Wednesday morning to talk more about the plan.
