On Thursday, Rep. Amanda Price, chair of the House Local Government Committee, took general testimony on the problems local communities and organizations are having when attempting to deal with blighted properties in their area.  There were great discussions on many of problems being faced.  Officials from the city of Ypsilanti, city of Jackson and city of Niles were among the group to testify.

Among the many topic areas of discussion were squatters, the lengthy foreclosure process when a property is sitting vacant, the problems a second auction presents when dealing with foreclosed properties, and not knowing contact information for bank owned properties.

The committee hearing brought to light many of the hurdles local communities are facing when trying to eradicate blight from their area.  We are encouraged by the amount of interested in discussing this topic and we are thankful to Rep. Amanda Price for taking this testimony in her committee. We look forward to working the chair and the rest of the committee members as this issue develops further.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.