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United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO: 

Report to the Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, 
Stimulus Oversight, and Government Spending, Committee on Oversight 
and Government Reform, House of Representatives: 

November 2011: 

Vacant Properties: 

Growing Number Increases Communities' Costs and Challenges: 

GAO-12-34: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-12-34, a report to the Ranking Member, Subcommittee 
on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight, and Government Spending, 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives. 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

Vacant and unattended residential properties can attract crime, cause 
blight, and pose a threat to public safety. While homeowners or 
mortgage owners-—including the mortgage servicers that administer 
loans on behalf of loan owners—-are responsible for maintaining vacant 
properties with mortgages undergoing foreclosure, the costs local 
governments incur to mitigate any unsafe conditions can be 
significant. GAO was asked to examine (1) trends in the number of 
vacant properties and how they relate to the recent increase in 
foreclosures, (2) the types of costs that vacant properties create and 
who bears the responsibility for these properties and their costs, and 
(3) state and local government strategies to address vacant properties 
and the federal role in assisting these efforts. GAO analyzed Census 
Bureau vacancy data and data on property maintenance costs from the 
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and two housing-related 
government-sponsored enterprises (GSE). GAO conducted case studies in 
nine cities selected to provide a range of local economic and housing 
conditions, rates of foreclosure, and geographic locations. GAO also 
interviewed local officials, representatives of community development 
organizations, federal agencies, and mortgage servicers, among others. 

The Federal Reserve, Census, Office of Comptroller of the Currency, 
FHA, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and GSEs provided technical 
comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate. Treasury commented 
that the report was informative and noted the need for all 
stakeholders to analyze policy responses to this issue. 

What GAO Found: 

According to Census Bureau data, nonseasonal vacant properties have 
increased 51 percent nationally from nearly 7 million in 2000 to 10 
million in April 2010, with 10 states seeing increases of 70 percent 
or more. High foreclosure rates have contributed to the additional 
vacancies. Population declines in certain cities and high unemployment 
also may have contributed to increased vacancies. However, these data 
do not indicate the number of vacant properties that are inadequately 
maintained and imposing costs on local governments. 

Figure: Percentage Increase in Number of Vacant Properties (excluding 
seasonal use/migrant worker properties), 2000 to 2010: 

[Refer to PDF for image: illustrated U.S. map] 

If a homeowner abandons a property, servicers may have the right under 
typical mortgage agreements to conduct certain maintenance, although 
they generally are not obligated to do so until they assume ownership 
on behalf of the loan owner after foreclosure. In 2010, the GSEs 
reimbursed servicers or vendors over $953 million for property 
maintenance costs. However, local governments reported spending 
millions of dollars—-including federal funds-—on vacant properties 
that are not adequately maintained. For example, Detroit spent about 
$20 million since May 2009 to demolish almost 4,000 vacant properties. 
Unattended vacant properties produce public safety costs and lower 
communities’ tax revenues due to the decline in value of surrounding 
properties, with some studies finding that vacant foreclosed 
properties may have reduced prices of nearby homes by $8,600 to 
$17,000 per property in specific cities. 

Cities and states are implementing a variety of strategies to minimize 
the negative impacts of vacant properties but face various challenges. 
For example, some local governments are creating special entities 
called land banks that acquire and hold vacant properties for later 
development, sale, or demolition. However, difficulty obtaining 
adequate and sustained funding and finding buyers for the properties 
can hamper these local efforts. Some cities have passed ordinances 
that require servicers to notify the city when a property they are 
managing becomes vacant and attempt to hold them responsible for 
maintenance. However, localities often lack resources or staff to 
enforce these requirements fully. Some suggest fewer properties would 
become vacant if servicers had to account for communities’ costs—such 
as for policing and fires—when considering whether to modify loans or 
foreclose, but servicers and others questioned the feasibility and 
effectiveness of such an approach. Local officials and community 
groups said they need more funds and increased oversight by federal 
regulators to ensure that servicers comply with local property 
maintenance codes. 

View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-34] or key 
components. For more information, contact Mathew J. Scirè at (202) 512-
8678 or sciremj@gao.gov. [End of section] 

Contents: 

Letter: 

Background: 

More Properties Have Become Vacant in Recent Years, in Step with 
Increased Foreclosures and Unemployment: 

Improperly Maintained Vacant Properties Create Costs and Other 
Problems for Neighborhoods and Local Governments: 

State and Local Government Strategies to Address Vacant Properties 
Face Resource and Other Challenges: 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology: 

Appendix II: U.S. Decennial Census Data on Residential Vacancies, 2000 
and 2010: 

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of the Treasury: 

Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

Tables: 

Table 1: Census 2010 Vacancy Status Categories and Definitions: 

Table 2: Population in Selected Cities and Percentage Increase in 
Nonseasonal Vacancies, 2000 and 2010: 

Table 3: GSEs' Reimbursements to Servicers and Payments to Vendors for 
Maintenance Costs Incurred Prior to and Following Foreclosure Sale, 
2010: 

Table 4: FHA Reimbursement to Servicers and Contractors for 
Maintenance Costs Incurred Prior to and Following Conveyance, 2010: 

Table 5: Census Data on Vacant Residential Units, 2000 and 2010: 

Table 6: Number of Vacant Residential Units, 2010 Census: 

Figures: 

Figure 1: Percentage Increase in Number of Nonseasonal Vacancies by 
State between 2000 and 2010: 

Figure 2: States with the Greatest Increase in Nonseasonal Vacant 
Units' Share of Housing Stock, 2000 to 2010: 

Figure 3: Total Nonseasonal Vacant Properties in Selected Cities and 
Vacant Properties in the "Other Vacant" Census Category as a 
Percentage of Housing Stock, 2000 to 2010: 

Figure 4: The Change in Vacant Properties between 2000 and 2010, and 
Percentage of Loans in Foreclosure and Unemployment Rates as of 
December 2010, by State: 

Figure 5: Example Timeline of the Foreclosure Process and Potential 
Periods of Vacancy: 

Figure 6: GSEs' Property Maintenance Costs Paid on Properties for 
Which They Assumed Ownership through Foreclosure, 2010: 

Figure 7: Types and Amounts of FHA Property Maintenance Costs Paid to 
Contractors Post Conveyance, 2010: 

Figure 8: Examples of Vacant Properties in Chicago and Detroit: 

Figure 9: Damaged Property in Henderson, Nevada: 

Figure 10: A Row House Next to a Vacant Lot in Baltimore, Maryland: 

Figure 11: Demolition of a Single-family Property in Indio, California: 

Figure 12: Examples of Interior Conditions of Vacant Properties in 
Indio, California: 

Figure 13: Vacant Properties Near Recently Rehabilitated Homes in 
Chicago, as of 2011: 

Abbreviations: 

ACS: American Community Survey: 

CDBG: Community Development Block Grant: 

CDC: community development corporation: 

FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: 

FHA: Federal Housing Administration: 

FHFA: Federal Housing Finance Agency: 

GSE: government-sponsored enterprise: 

HAMP: Home Affordable Modification Program: 

HUD: Department of Housing and Urban Development: 

NEO CANDO: Northeast Ohio Community and Neighborhood Data for 
Organizing: 

NPV: net present value: 

NSP: Neighborhood Stabilization Program: 

OCC: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: 

REO: real-estate owned: 

USPS: U.S. Postal Service: 

[End of section] 

United States Government Accountability Office: 
Washington, DC 20548: 

November 4, 2011: 

The Honorable Dennis J. Kucinich: 
Ranking Member: 
Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight, and Government 
Spending: 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: 
House of Representatives: 

Dear Mr. Kucinich: 

During the continuing foreclosure crisis and economic downturn, 
increased numbers of vacant residential properties are becoming 
vandalized or dilapidated, attracting crime, and contributing to 
neighborhood decline in many communities across the country. Even 
though homeowners whose properties are being foreclosed upon may 
continue to occupy their properties until after a foreclosure sale 
occurs, many leave their homes during the foreclosure process. In 
addition, properties for which a new entity has assumed ownership 
through foreclosure may be vacant until the property is resold. If 
neither of these owners nor the mortgage servicer--the entity that 
manages mortgage loans and foreclosures on behalf of banks and other 
holders of mortgage loans--acts to maintain these vacant homes, these 
properties can deteriorate, increasing blight in the community. 
Unattended vacant properties can also increase costs for local 
governments that must expend resources to inspect the properties and 
mitigate any unsafe conditions, including demolishing some properties. 
[Footnote 1] 

Because of the impact of housing on the national and local economies, 
the federal government has attempted to address issues arising from 
the financial crisis that began in 2007 and its aftermath. As part of 
the Troubled Asset Relief Program created to restore stability and 
liquidity to the financial system, Congress called for the Department 
of the Treasury (Treasury) to preserve homeownership and protect home 
values.[Footnote 2] In addition, Congress created the Neighborhood 
Stabilization Program (NSP), which provides grants to states and local 
governments to help reduce the number of foreclosed and abandoned 
properties and restore depressed local housing markets.[Footnote 3] 

Your letter expressed concern over the costs that foreclosed and 
unattended vacant homes are creating for local communities and asked 
us to review the strategies state and local governments are using to 
address unattended vacant property problems and the challenges those 
governments face. Specifically, this report addresses (1) trends in 
the number of vacant properties and how they relate to the recent 
increase in foreclosures, (2) the types of costs that vacant 
properties create and who bears the responsibility for these 
properties and their costs, and (3) state and local government 
strategies for addressing vacant properties and the federal role in 
assisting these efforts. 

To address these objectives, we analyzed data on vacant residential 
housing units from the Census Bureau (Census) from 2000 to 2010, as 
well as from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) as of the second quarter 
of 2010. We also analyzed data on property maintenance costs from two 
housing-related government-sponsored enterprises (GSE)--Fannie Mae and 
Freddie Mac--and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's 
Federal Housing Administration (FHA). We assessed the reliability of 
the data we used by reviewing past GAO and other assessments of the 
data and interviewing knowledgeable agency officials. We determined 
that these data were sufficiently reliable for use in the report. We 
also collected information about local strategies by reviewing 
literature and conducting case studies in nine localities that we 
selected based on high vacancy and foreclosure rates, geographic 
location, economic conditions, and foreclosure processes. These 
localities were Baltimore, Maryland; Cape Coral, Florida; Chicago, 
Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Indianapolis, Indiana; 
Indio, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Tucson, Arizona. In each 
location, we interviewed local government officials and 
representatives of nonprofit and community development organizations. 
In addition, we interviewed code enforcement officials in two states 
that recently passed laws pertaining to maintenance of vacant 
properties in foreclosure--New York and New Jersey. We also 
interviewed staff from one of the largest maintenance companies that 
conducts property inspections and maintenance on behalf of services 
nationwide, academic researchers, GSE staff, and five mortgage 
servicers--including some of the largest firms and those that 
specialized in subprime loans. In addition, we interviewed 
representatives of federal agencies, including the Board of Governors 
of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), Census, Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the 
Currency (OCC), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and Treasury. Appendix I 
contains more information about our objectives, scope, and methodology. 

We conducted this performance audit from November 2010 to November 
2011 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit 
to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable 
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 
We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for 
our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

Background: 

Multiple entities have specific roles regarding mortgage loans and the 
maintenance of properties that experience foreclosure. When 
individuals purchase residential real property with borrowed funds, 
they usually enter into a contractual agreement, typically called a 
promissory note, in which they agree, among other things, to make 
principal and interest payments to the originating lender for a period 
of time and to maintain the property in order to prevent it from 
deteriorating or decreasing in value due to its condition. Borrowers 
usually also sign a mortgage or deed of trust that pledges the 
underlying property as collateral against the borrower's default. The 
holders of these documents are allowed to record a lien against the 
property and are granted the right to seize, and usually sell, the 
property should the borrower fail to pay.[Footnote 4] 

Institutions that originate home mortgage loans generally do not hold 
all such loans as assets on their balance sheets but instead sell them 
to other financial institutions or the GSEs, Fannie Mae or Freddie 
Mac, for the purpose of securitizing them.[Footnote 5] Through 
securitization, the purchasers of these mortgages package them into 
pools and issue securities known as mortgage-backed securities for 
which the mortgage loans serve as collateral. In some cases, loans are 
purchased by financial institutions and issued as mortgage-backed 
securities to investors without any involvement of the GSEs or FHA in 
securitizations known as "private label." In other cases, mortgage-
backed securities are backed by pools of GSE loans or mortgage loans 
insured by federal agencies, such as FHA.[Footnote 6] Mortgage-backed 
securities pay interest and principal to their investors, which 
include other financial institutions, pension funds, or other 
institutional investors. The GSEs guarantee investors in their 
securities the timely payment of principal and interest. The 
Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), a wholly owned 
government corporation, guarantees the timely payment of principal and 
interest on securities backed by federally insured or guaranteed loans. 

After a mortgage originator sells its loans to an investor or to an 
institution that will securitize them, another financial institution 
or other entity is appointed as the servicer to manage payment 
collections and other activities associated with these loans. Mortgage 
servicers, which can be large mortgage finance companies, commercial 
banks, or small specialty companies unaffiliated with a larger 
financial institution, earn a fee for acting as the servicer on behalf 
of the purchaser of the loans. Servicing duties can involve sending 
borrowers monthly account statements, answering customer-service 
inquiries, collecting monthly mortgage payments, maintaining escrow 
accounts for property taxes and hazard insurance, and forwarding 
proper payments to the mortgage owners. In the event that a borrower 
becomes delinquent on loan payments, servicers also initiate and 
conduct foreclosures in order to obtain the proceeds from the sale of 
the property on behalf of the owners of the loans. Servicers often 
contract with third-party vendors to conduct some of their 
responsibilities. For example, they may hire property maintenance 
companies to inspect and conduct maintenance on properties. The duties 
of servicers may vary based on the entity on whose behalf they are 
servicing the loans. For the loans they have purchased, Fannie Mae and 
Freddie Mac each have issued servicing guidelines that must be 
followed by entities servicing loans on their behalf. In addition, FHA 
has specific servicer guidelines for entities servicing FHA-insured 
loans. For loans that are in private-label securities, servicers' 
duties are specified in a contract called a pooling and servicing 
agreement, which may place similar expectations on these servicers as 
the Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac standards. 

If a borrower defaults on a mortgage loan secured by the home, the 
mortgage holder is entitled to pursue foreclosure. Once the borrower 
is in default, the servicer must decide whether to pursue a home 
retention workout or foreclosure alternative, such as a short sale, or 
initiate foreclosure.[Footnote 7] If the servicer determines that 
foreclosure is the most appropriate option, it follows one of two 
foreclosure methods, depending on state law. In a judicial 
foreclosure, a judge presides over the process in a court proceeding. 
Servicers initiate a formal foreclosure action by filing a lawsuit 
with a court. A nonjudicial foreclosure process takes place outside 
the courtroom, and is typically conducted by the trustee named in the 
deed of trust document. Trustees, and sometimes servicers, generally 
send a notice of default to the borrower and publish a notice of sale 
in area newspapers or legal publications. 

At a foreclosure sale or auction, if no third party has the winning 
bid, the servicer can obtain title to the property on behalf of the 
mortgage owner and sell it to repay the loan. Servicers transfer 
foreclosed properties, referred to as real-estate owned (REO) 
properties, from loans that were owned by the GSEs or insured by FHA 
to those entities within designated time periods following the 
foreclosure sale. The GSEs and FHA have contractors and other entities 
that manage the properties on their behalf during the postforeclosure 
period. Unless servicing agreements for loans in securitization trusts 
require the properties to be transferred to another party, servicers 
generally hold the remaining REO properties in their inventory and 
manage them until they are resold. Several states have enacted 
"redemption" laws that give borrowers the opportunity to match the 
winning bids from the foreclosure sale and reclaim their properties. 
After foreclosure sales and applicable redemption periods, servicers 
or entities working on behalf of the GSEs and FHA typically proceed 
with eviction proceedings if foreclosed properties are not already 
vacant and then market and sell the properties.[Footnote 8] 

Federal Agencies Involved in Overseeing Mortgage Servicers and Funding 
Housing Programs: 

Several federal agencies share responsibility for regulating the 
banking industry in relation to the origination and servicing of 
mortgage loans.[Footnote 9] Various agencies oversee federally and 
state-chartered banks and their mortgage-related subsidiaries 
depending on which agency granted the institution's operating charter. 
At the federal level, OCC has authority to oversee nationally 
chartered banks and federally chartered savings associations, or 
thrifts, (including mortgage operating subsidiaries). The Federal 
Reserve oversees insured state-chartered banks that are members of the 
Federal Reserve, as well as holding companies for thrifts and any 
lenders owned by these companies. The Federal Reserve also has general 
authority over bank holding companies, including having responsibility 
for oversight of any nonbank subsidiaries of these companies that 
conduct mortgage servicing activities. FDIC oversees insured state-
chartered banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System and 
state-chartered thrifts. Both the Federal Reserve and FDIC share 
oversight with the state regulatory authority that chartered the bank. 
In addition, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection has the 
authority to supervise mortgage servicers with respect to federal 
consumer financial law.[Footnote 10] 

Other agencies also are involved in overseeing certain aspects of U.S. 
mortgage markets but do not have supervisory authority over mortgage 
servicers. For example, FHFA has direct supervisory authority over 
Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's activities but does not have 
supervisory authority over servicers in general. The FHA oversees 
institutions approved to service loans that FHA insures for the 
servicers' compliance with servicing regulations on, for example, the 
timing of foreclosure initiation. Similarly, Treasury has a 
contractual relationship with servicers that voluntarily participate 
in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which is a program 
designed to help borrowers avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes 
by providing incentives for servicers to perform loan modifications. 
To oversee compliance with this program's guidelines, Treasury can 
conduct reviews of participating servicers. 

The federal government also provides funding assistance to state and 
local governments for various housing-related activities, including 
for addressing issues related to vacant properties. NSP provides 
grants to states and local governments both to help reduce the number 
of foreclosed and abandoned properties and to restore depressed local 
housing markets. Since 2008, almost $7 billion has been authorized 
over the course of three phases. In each phase, grantees receiving NSP 
funds may use them directly or reallocate them to other entities 
within their states. Grantees must use funds for specifically defined 
eligible uses to address issues associated with foreclosed and 
abandoned properties. For example, grantees may choose to acquire and 
rehabilitate properties for rental or resale or demolish blighted 
structures. Participants must also follow several key requirements 
governing the use of NSP funds, such as using the funds in "areas of 
greatest need" within specified time frames and using a certain 
percentage of funds to benefit low-income households. Another program 
administered by HUD, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) 
program, provides grants to localities for 26 eligible activities, 
including acquisition, administration and planning, economic 
development, housing, public improvements, and public services, among 
others. For example, CDBG funds could be used to rehabilitate single-
family residential properties. 

More Properties Have Become Vacant in Recent Years, in Step with 
Increased Foreclosures and Unemployment: 

Various Entities Attempt to Count Vacant Properties but Determining 
Occupancy Status is Difficult: 

Some federal agencies compile data on the number of vacant properties 
in the United States, but using these data to identify unattended 
vacant properties--that is, properties that are not being maintained 
and therefore impose costs on the surrounding community--is difficult. 
The sources of national vacancy data available from federal agencies 
include two different collection efforts by Census and data that the 
USPS compiles on vacant addresses.[Footnote 11] The decennial census 
is intended to make a complete count of the nation's population and 
includes questions about housing characteristics such as the total 
number of occupied and vacant properties. The 2000 and 2010 Census 
efforts took place over several months beginning in April of each year 
and recorded the status of vacant properties as of April 1, or Census 
Day. As part of the 2010 Census, Census mailed questionnaires to more 
than 120 million housing units and conducted follow-up, door-to-door 
data collection for almost 47 million households that did not mail 
back the census forms.[Footnote 12] A second Census data collection 
effort that includes information on vacant properties is its American 
Community Survey (ACS), which it compiles through a survey of 3 
million households throughout the year. The ACS data are reported on 
an annual basis and are also aggregated into 3-year and 5-year 
datasets. To collect the ACS data, Census mails a questionnaire to a 
sample of 3 million households and if surveys are not returned, it 
follows up by telephone if a valid telephone phone number exists. ACS 
field representatives also conduct door-to-door surveys of a subsample 
of the households that do not respond to either the mailing or 
telephone call. Another source of data on the number of vacant 
properties is compiled by USPS, which maintains a listing of 
properties that appear to be vacant based on observations by 
individual postal carriers. The USPS data may not immediately capture 
a vacant property as USPS does not record a property as vacant until 
at least 90 days have passed from when vacancy was first suspected. 

According to Census and USPS officials, and representatives of one 
local government, nongovernmental organization, and mortgage servicer, 
the primary difficulty in accurately determining the total number of 
vacant properties is identifying whether a property is truly vacant. 
[Footnote 13] Methods these entities use generally rely on physical 
inspection of property exteriors to identify indicators of vacancy, 
such as broken windows or broken/missing doors, high grass, or 
uncollected mail. In some cases, Census enumerators or other 
inspectors may obtain information about the occupancy status of a 
property from neighbors. Some methods that local government or 
nongovernmental staff also use include reviewing public utility (e.g., 
water, electricity) usage records as utility shutoffs or very low 
usage levels can indicate that a property may be vacant. 
Distinguishing the type of vacant property--for example, whether the 
property is a vacation home--can also be difficult using exterior 
inspection methods. Another limitation is that definitions or criteria 
used to determine vacancy can vary among data collection sources, 
making comparability of vacancy levels across different sources 
difficult. In addition, no comprehensive data are available about the 
duration that properties are vacant. Some properties may be 
permanently vacant, while others may be reoccupied after a period of 
time. Given these limitations, measurements of vacant properties may 
be more useful as general indicators of the scale of the problem, as 
of the point in time a survey was taken, than as counts of the exact 
number of vacant properties. 

In addition, neither one of the available national data sources 
indicates who owns the vacant properties or whether or not they are 
being maintained, which would help identify unattended vacant 
properties that are likely to cause the most problems for local 
communities.[Footnote 14] Not all vacant properties place the same 
burden on local communities. The decennial census and the ACS data 
categorize vacant properties in a way that makes it possible to 
exclude from estimates some properties that are likely to be regularly 
maintained, such as vacation homes; properties for rent or for sale, 
or those that have recently been rented or sold, but not yet occupied; 
or those intended for migrant workers. A final category, "other 
vacant," includes vacant properties about which the Census door-to-
door surveyors did not find enough information to place in other 
categories (see table 1). According to Census officials, the "other 
vacant" category could include foreclosed properties that were being 
held off the market by the owner or were not visibly for sale or rent 
and may include unattended properties. This category could also 
include properties that fall into the other categories--for example 
properties that may have been sold or rented but are not occupied--
however, Census surveyors did not have enough information to place 
them in those categories.[Footnote 15] Because Census staff have used 
these vacant property categories in several decennial censuses and as 
part of compiling the ACS survey, changes in various types of vacant 
properties can be tracked over time. 

Table 1: Census 2010 Vacancy Status Categories and Definitions: 

According to 2010 Census technical documentation and interviews with 
Census officials, vacancy status and other characteristics of vacant 
units were determined by census enumerators obtaining information from 
landlords, owners, neighbors, rental agents, and others. Vacant units 
are subdivided according to their housing market classification as 
follows: 

For Rent or Sale--These are vacant units offered for rent and vacant 
units offered either for rent or for sale. 

Rented, Not Occupied--These are vacant units rented but not yet 
occupied, including units where money has been paid or agreed upon but 
the renter has not yet moved in. 

For Sale Only--These are vacant units being offered for sale only, 
including units in cooperatives and condominium projects if the 
individual units are offered for sale only. If units are offered 
either for rent or for sale, they are included in the "For Rent" 
classification. 

Sold, Not Occupied--These are vacant units sold but not yet occupied, 
including units that have been sold recently but into which the new 
owner has not yet moved. 

For Seasonal, Recreational, or Occasional Use--These are vacant units 
used or intended for use only in certain seasons or for weekends or 
other occasional use throughout the year. Seasonal units include those 
used for summer or winter sports or recreation, such as beach cottages 
and hunting cabins. Seasonal units also may include quarters for such 
workers as herders and loggers. Interval ownership units, sometimes 
called shared-ownership or time-sharing condominiums, also are 
included. 

For Migrant Workers--These include vacant units intended for occupancy 
by migrant workers employed in farm work during the crop season. (Work 
in a cannery, freezer plant, or food-processing plant is not farm 
work, according to Census). 

Other Vacant--If a vacant unit does not fall into any of the 
categories specified above, it is classified as "Other Vacant." For 
example, this category includes units held for occupancy by a 
caretaker or janitor and units held for personal reasons of the owner. 
According to Census officials, the "other vacant" category could 
include foreclosed properties that were being held off the market by 
the owner or were not visibly for sale or rent and may include 
unattended properties. 

Source: Definitions of Subject Characteristics, U.S. Census Bureau, 
2010 Census Summary File 1; interview of Census officials. 

[End of table] 

USPS also maintains categories for residential and commercial 
addresses, but using these data to identify unattended vacant 
properties and track them over time is difficult. First, the Census 
data attempts to classify vacant residential properties into seven 
categories, whereas the USPS uses only two categories, one for vacant 
addresses and one category that includes vacant addresses and other 
types of occupied addresses, which it calls "no stat." This "no stat" 
category contains properties that are under construction, demolished, 
blighted, or otherwise identified by a USPS delivery carrier as not 
likely to become an occupied address for some time. The category may 
also include occupied addresses, such as those behind gated 
communities. A HUD official and other governmental and nongovernmental 
housing experts told us they have used the USPS data on vacant 
addresses for analyses of vacant properties in localities around the 
country. In addition, the USPS data can provide useful updates in 
between the Census data collection periods. However, because USPS 
officials told us that they had changed their vacant address data 
collection processes after 2006 and made other changes to their 
address management database in September 2010, we were unable to use 
their data to assess trends in the number of vacant properties over 
time. Because Census data enables comparisons of vacant property data 
over time for similar categories of properties, we primarily used 
Census data for the purposes of this report. 

Available Census Data Show that Nonseasonal Vacant Properties 
Increased Significantly Between 2000 and 2010: 

Our review of Census data indicates that the total estimated number of 
residential vacancies increased between 2000 and 2010. By analyzing 
the Census data sources, we estimated that the total number of vacant, 
residential housing units in the United States--excluding vacant units 
identified in the Census data as for seasonal use or use by migrant 
workers--increased 51 percent between 2000 and 2010, from nearly 7 
million to 10 million (See appendix II).[Footnote 16] The decennial 
census also counted the total number of housing units, and our 
analysis found that the total number of residential units--the housing 
stock--in the United States increased by almost 14 percent during this 
period, from 116 million to 132 million units. Based on these data, 
the number of nonseasonal vacant units as a share of the nation's 
total housing stock increased from 6 percent to 8 percent--a 
substantial increase, according to Census housing statistics officials 
we interviewed about the data. At the same time, the number of 
households increased about 11 percent, from approximately 105.5 
million to just under 117 million. 

At the state level, the increase in the number of nonseasonal 
vacancies varied among states over the past decade, with some 
experiencing a larger increase in the number of vacant units than 
others (see figure 1). Ten states experienced increases of 70 percent 
or more. The states with the largest percentage increases in 
nonseasonal vacant units over the last decade were Nevada (126 
percent), Minnesota (100 percent), New Hampshire (99 percent), Arizona 
(92 percent), and Florida (90 percent). Census data show that these 
states also experienced increases in their total housing stock over 
the decade. For example, in Nevada, the housing stock increased 42 
percent between 2000 and 2010 and, in Florida, the housing stock 
increased 23 percent. [Footnote 17] 

Figure 1: Percentage Increase in Number of Nonseasonal Vacancies by 
State between 2000 and 2010: 

[Refer to PDF for image: illustrated U.S. map] 

U.S. states with largest Increases in number of nonseasonal vacancies, 
2000-2010: 

United States: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 6,820,324; 
2010: 10,314,979; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 51.2%. 

1. Nevada: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 59,485; 
2010: 134,619; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 126.3%. 

2. Minnesota: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 64,656; 
2010: 129,169; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 99.8%. 

3. New Hampshire: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 15,976; 
2010: 31,844; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 99.3%. 

4. Arizona: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 145,261; 
2010: 278,671; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 91.8%. 

5. Florida: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 480,193; 
2010: 910,167; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 89.5%. 

6. Georgia: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 224,335; 
2010: 420,852; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 87.6%. 

7. Michigan: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 213,247; 
2010: 394,881; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 85.2%. 

8. Colorado: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 77,087; 
2010: 137,541; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 78.4%. 

9. Rhode Island: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 18,411; 
2010: 32,699; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 77.6%. 

10. Massachusetts: 
Number of nonseasonal vacant units: 
2000: 84,444; 
2010: 145,388; 
Percentage change 2000-2010: 72.2%. 

1% - 10%: 
District of Columbia: 
Hawaii: 
New Mexico: 
West Virginia: 

11% - 20%: 
Alaska: 
Montana: 
Pennsylvania: 
South Dakota: 
Wyoming: 

21% - 30%: 
Arkansas: 
Kansas: 
Kentucky: 
Louisiana: 
Mississippi: 
New York: 
Oklahoma: 
Oregon: 

31% - 40%: 
Alabama: 
Maryland: 
Nebraska: 

41% - 50%: 
Iowa: 
Maine: 
New Jersey: 
Texas: 
Utah: 
Vermont: 
South Carolina: 
Washington: 

More than 50%: 
Arizona: 
California: 
Colorado: 
Connecticut: 
Delaware: 
Florida: 
Georgia: 
Idaho: 
Illinois: 
Indiana: 
Massachusetts: 
Michigan: 
Minnesota: 
Missouri: 
Nevada: 
New Hampshire: 
North Carolina: 
North Dakota: 
Ohio: 
Rhode Island: 
Tennessee: 
Virginia: 
Wisconsin: 

Sources: 2000 and 2010 Census data; map (MapInfo). 

Note: These data exclude vacant units that the Census identified as 
for seasonal use or for use by migrant workers. 

[End of figure] 

The Census data show that the nonseasonal vacant units' percentage of 
the housing stock--the vacancy rate--also increased in many of these 
states between 2000 and 2010, as shown in figure 2. 

Figure 2: States with the Greatest Increase in Nonseasonal Vacant 
Units' Share of Housing Stock, 2000 to 2010: 

[Refer to PDF for image: illustrated horizontal bar graph] 

United States: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 5.9%; 
2010: 7.8%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 33.1%. 

1. New Hampshire: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 2.9%; 
2010: 5.2%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 77.4%. 

2. Minnesota: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 3.1%; 
2010: 5.5%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 75.8%. 

3. Michigan: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 5.0%; 
2010: 8.7%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 73.0%. 

4. Rhode Island: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 4.2%; 
2010: 7.1%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 68.6%. 

5. Massachusetts: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 3.2%; 
2010: 5.2%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 60.8%. 

6. Nevada: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 7.2%; 
2010: 11.5%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 59.5%. 

7. Florida: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 6.6%; 
2010: 10.1%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 54.0%. 

8. California: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 3.9%; 
2010: 5.8%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 50.7%. 

9. Georgia: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 6.8%; 
2010: 10.3%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 50.6%. 

10. Ohio: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 6.1%; 
2010: 9.1%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 49.8%. 

11. Arizona: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 6.6%; 
2010: 9.8%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 47.6%. 

12. Colorado: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 4.3%; 
2010: 6.2%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 45.8%. 

13. Illinois: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 5.4%; 
2010: 7.8%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 44.2%. 

14. Wisconsin: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 4.1%; 
2010: 5.8%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 42.2%. 

15. New Jersey: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 4.1%; 
2010: 5.7%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 39.5%. 

16. Indiana: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 6.4%; 
2010: 8.9%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 38.4%. 

17. Vermont: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 3.6%; 
2010: 4.9%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 36.0%. 

18. Connecticut: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 4.4%; 
2010: 5.9%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 33.5%. 

19. Tennessee: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 6.9%; 
2010: 9.2%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 31.8%. 

20. Virginia: 
Nonseasonal vacant properties as a percentage of total housing stock 
(vacancy rate): 
2000: 5.2%; 
2010: 6.8%; 
Percentage increase in vacancy rate: 31.4%. 

Sources: Census 2000 and 2010. 

Note: Vacant units that Census identified as for seasonal use or for 
use by migrant workers are excluded. 

[End of figure] 

We also analyzed Census data at the city level and found that some 
cities in states with relatively large increases in the number of 
nonseasonal vacancies, such as Michigan and Ohio, generally also 
experienced increases in the number of nonseasonal vacant properties. 
The number of nonseasonal vacant units more than doubled in Detroit, 
Michigan, and increased 62 percent in Cleveland, Ohio. In both of 
these cities, nonseasonal vacant properties were already a larger 
share of the housing stock in 2000 than most of the other cities we 
examined--vacant properties made up 10 percent of the total housing 
stock in Detroit and 11 percent of the total housing stock in 
Cleveland in the 2000 Census. By the 2010 Census, those percentages 
had increased to 23 percent in Detroit and 19 percent in Cleveland. 
Similarly, the number of nonseasonal vacancies, as a share of the 
total housing stock, nearly doubled from 6 percent to just under 12 
percent in Las Vegas. 

Local government officials and community group representatives told us 
that distinguishing among different types of vacant properties is 
important to be able to identify the number of properties that are 
likely to impose costs on the community. As we noted above, the Census 
vacancy status categories can be useful in identifying some vacant 
properties, such as those in the "other vacant" category, that may be 
more likely to be unattended and so might burden local governments as 
opposed to those that are likely to be maintained, such as those that 
are for seasonal use. For example, prior to the surge in foreclosures 
of the second half of the decade, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Detroit 
all had large numbers of properties in the category "other vacant" in 
2000 relative to the other cities we examined. However, these cities 
also still saw increases in both the overall nonseasonal number of 
vacant properties and the share of properties in the "other vacant" 
category as a percentage of their total housing stock by 2010. In 
addition, Cape Coral, Florida, experienced a large increase in 
nonseasonal vacant properties between 2000 and 2010--from about 2,100 
to more than 11,000. Moreover, the increase in the category "other 
vacant" from about 1 percent of the housing stock in 2000 (433 
properties) to 6.5 percent of the housing stock in 2010 (5,100 
properties) indicates that some of the increase in the overall number 
of vacant properties in that community may have been the result of 
overbuilding in that city. These data are corroborated by local Cape 
Coral officials, who told us that many vacant properties were 
unfinished or newly constructed properties. Census officials also told 
us that such newly completed or unfinished properties would be 
categorized as "other vacant" by Census door-to-door surveyors. 
Similarly, the number of "other vacant" properties increased 271 
percent in Las Vegas, Nevada, from just under 1,900 in the 2000 Census 
to 7,000 in the 2010 Census. Figure 3 shows the percentage of the 
total housing stock that was vacant (and not for seasonal use) in each 
time period in each city we studied, and the percentage of housing 
stock accounted for by properties categorized as "other vacant" in the 
Census data. The "other vacant" category does not necessarily capture 
all properties that may be unattended and imposing costs on 
communities. Vacant, foreclosed properties that are on the market for 
sale could also be vandalized or not well-maintained. 

Figure 3: Total Nonseasonal Vacant Properties in Selected Cities and 
Vacant Properties in the "Other Vacant" Census Category as a 
Percentage of Housing Stock, 2000 to 2010: 

[Refer to PDF for image: vertical bar graph] 

Vacancies as a percentage of total housing stock: 

Tucson, Arizona: 
Nonseasonal vacant housing units as a share of total housing stock in 
that city: 
2000: 6.2%; 
2010: 1.3%; 
Vacant housing units in the “other vacant” Census category as a share 
of total housing stock in that city: 
2000: 9.1%; 
2010: 1.9%. 
  
Indio, California: 
Nonseasonal vacant housing units as a share of total housing stock in 
that city: 
2000: 5.1%; 
2010: 1.7%; 
Vacant housing units in the “other vacant” Census category as a share 
of total housing stock in that city: 
2000: 9.0%; 
2010: 1.6%. 

Cape Coral, Florida: 
Nonseasonal vacant housing units as a share of total housing stock in 
that city: 
2000: 4.5%; 
2010: 1.0%; 
Vacant housing units in the “other vacant” Census category as a share 
of total housing stock in that city: 
2000: 14.5%; 
2010: 6.5%. 
  
Chicago, Illinois: 
Nonseasonal vacant housing units as a share of total housing stock in 
that city: 
2000: 7.5%; 
2010: 2.8%; 
Vacant housing units in the “other vacant” Census category as a share 
of total housing stock in that city: 
2000: 11.6%; 
2010: 3.9%. 
  
Indianapolis, Indiana: 
Nonseasonal vacant housing units as a share of total housing stock in 
that city: 
2000: 8.8%; 
2010: 2.5%; 
Vacant housing units in the “other vacant” Census category as a share 
of total housing stock in that city: 
2000: 12.2%; 
2010: 4.6%. 
  
Baltimore, Maryland: 
Nonseasonal vacant housing units as a share of total housing stock in 
that city: 
2000: 13.7%; 
2010: 7.0%; 
Vacant housing units in the “other vacant” Census category as a share 
of total housing stock in that city: 
2000: 15.4%; 
2010: 7.7%. 
  
Detroit, Michigan: 
Nonseasonal vacant housing units as a share of total housing stock in 
that city: 
2000: 10.1%; 
2010: 4.5%; 
Vacant housing units in the “other vacant” Census category as a share 
of total housing stock in that city: 
2000: 22.6%; 
2010: 11.6%. 
  
Las Vegas, Nevada: 
Nonseasonal vacant housing units as a share of total housing stock in 
that city: 
2000: 6.4%; 
2010: 1.0%; 
Vacant housing units in the “other vacant” Census category as a share 
of total housing stock in that city: 
2000: 11.9%; 
2010: 2.9%. 
  
Cleveland, Ohio: 
Nonseasonal vacant housing units as a share of total housing stock in 
that city: 
2000: 11.3%; 
2010: 3.8%%; 
Vacant housing units in the “other vacant” Census category as a share 
of total housing stock in that city: 
2000: 19.1%; 
2010: 8.8%. 

[End of figure] 

Note: Vacant units that Census identified as for seasonal use or for 
use by migrant workers are excluded from the data on total vacant 
units in these cities. 

Sources: GAO analysis of Census 2000 and 2010 data. 

Within cities, the extent to which properties are vacant can vary 
substantially across individual neighborhoods. Local officials and 
community representatives in Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, and 
Indianapolis stated that unattended vacant properties in those cities 
appear to be concentrated in economically distressed areas.[Footnote 
18] Census data at the individual tract level--geographic divisions of 
2,500 to 8,000 people--appear to corroborate these statements. We 
reviewed Census 2000 and 2010 tract-level statistics on vacant housing 
units in these cities as well as ACS data for the 2005 to 2009 period 
on the percentage of households below the poverty threshold.[Footnote 
19] This review found that the tracts with increases in the number of 
properties in the "other vacant" category between 2000 and 2010 were 
associated with higher levels of poverty, on average, in the ACS data. 
This pattern is consistent with our findings in our 2010 report on 
abandoned foreclosures, that found that abandoned foreclosures (when 
mortgage servicers start but do not complete the foreclosure process 
on a property), which tend to be vacant and unattended, are located in 
economically distressed areas.[Footnote 20] The Census statistics also 
show that the number of vacant properties in such cities as Cape 
Coral, which is in a state that experienced large increases in new 
residential construction during the housing boom, increased throughout 
the city, but the increases were larger in the Northeast area and 
other areas that were developed during the recent housing boom. 

Because developing precise counts of the number of vacant properties 
that are creating problems for communities using national data sources 
is difficult, various local governments and nongovernmental 
organizations have undertaken their own tabulations of the number of 
unattended or abandoned vacant properties in their areas. However, 
differences in data collection methodologies mean that they cannot be 
directly compared to national data. Baltimore's code enforcement 
department tracks vacant properties through its code violation system, 
and officials stated that city housing inspectors have identified 
16,000 long-term vacant properties--many or most of which were vacant 
prior to the foreclosure crisis that began between 2005 and 2006--that 
the city considers unattended and blighted. Chicago's Department of 
Buildings has a vacant buildings listing of 18,000 properties. 
[Footnote 21] The Department of Metropolitan Development in 
Indianapolis used a combination of data sources to estimate that the 
city and the county in which it resides had between 9,000 and 10,000 
vacant, abandoned properties as of 2010.[Footnote 22] In Cleveland, 
the city's code enforcement department conducts an annual door-to-door 
survey to count vacant properties, with its 2010 survey finding at 
least 7,000 vacant, distressed structures. In Detroit, a 
nongovernmental organization conducted a citywide survey of vacant 
properties and land, in which surveyors found that the city had 
approximately 67,000 vacant parcels as of 2009 and nearly 30,000 
vacant single family homes. 

A Variety of Factors is Associated With the Increase in Vacant 
Properties: 

Local officials and representatives of community groups pointed to the 
recent large number of foreclosures, high unemployment levels and, in 
some cities, population declines as factors contributing to the recent 
increase in vacant properties that may cause problems in their areas. 
Local officials and community representatives in Detroit and 
Cleveland, for example, stated that the foreclosures that began to 
increase in their cities in 2005 and 2006, and that are continuing, 
have substantially increased the already large number of vacant 
properties in their cities. Officials in Tucson and those in the Las 
Vegas area stated that they did not have difficulty managing the 
vacant properties in their cities prior to the surge in foreclosures 
that began in 2006. Representatives of several community groups in 
Baltimore stated that foreclosures had contributed to the city's 
overall vacancy problem, although city government officials stated 
that the city's inventory of long-term, problem vacant properties was 
due more to population decline than a surge in foreclosures. 

Available data also indicate that high foreclosure rates are 
correlated to increased numbers of vacant properties. For example, 
states with high foreclosure rates in 2010, according to Mortgage 
Bankers Association data, also had relatively large increases in the 
numbers of vacancies as of April 2010, according to Census data (see 
figure 4). Comprehensive data are not available on the number of 
properties in foreclosure that are vacant. However, representatives of 
some servicers and the GSEs told us that between 10 percent and 20 
percent of the properties with loans in their portfolios are vacant at 
the time they initiate foreclosure; by the date of the completion of 
the foreclosure sale, they said, about 40 percent to 50 percent of 
properties are vacant. As we previously reported, local and state 
officials, community groups, and academics told us that borrowers may 
be confused about their rights to remain in their homes during 
foreclosure and vacate the home before the process is completed. 
[Footnote 23] In addition, properties that have completed foreclosure 
generally become vacant prior to resale. According to representatives 
at HUD, for example, which had an inventory of 51,000 residential, 
single-family properties that it acquired as a result of foreclosures 
on FHA-insured loans at the end of fiscal year 2010, FHA-insured 
lenders are required to convey foreclosed properties to HUD unoccupied 
to facilitate resale. A nongovernmental organization in Chicago 
conducted additional surveys and research on the 18,000 properties in 
the Chicago Department of Buildings' list of vacant buildings and 
found that about 13,000 were associated with a foreclosure between 
2006 and the first half of 2010.[Footnote 24] Figure 4 indicates that 
many of the states with large increases in vacant properties between 
2000 and 2010 also had high unemployment rates as of December 2010, as 
well as a relatively large percentage of loans in foreclosure. Nine 
states ranked in the top 20 for all three indicators. 

Figure 4: The Change in Vacant Properties between 2000 and 2010, and 
Percentage of Loans in Foreclosure and Unemployment Rates as of 
December 2010, by State: 

[Refer to PDF for image: illustrated horizontal bar graph] 

United States: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 51.2
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: Rank: 9.4
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 4.64%. 

Nevada[A]: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 126.3%; 
Rank: 1; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 14.9%; 
Rank: 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 10.12%. 
Rank: 

Minnesota: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 99.8%; 
Rank: 2; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 6.9%; 
Rank: 40; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 3.09%. 
Rank: 32. 

New Hampshire: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 99.3%; 
Rank: 3; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 5.6%; 
Rank: 48; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 2.73%. 
Rank: 35. 

Arizona[A]: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 91.8%; 
Rank: 4; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 9.6%; 
Rank: 14; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 5.68%. 
Rank: 5. 

Florida[A]: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 89.5%; 
Rank: 5; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 12%; 
Rank: 3; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 14.21%. 
Rank: 1. 

Georgia: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 87.6%; 
Rank: 6; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 10.4%; 
Rank: 8; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 3.56%. 
Rank: 21. 

Michigan[A]: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 85.2%; 
Rank: 7; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 11.1%; 
Rank: 5; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 4.27%. 
Rank: 12. 

Colorado: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 78.4%; 
Rank: 8; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 8.9%; 
Rank: 25; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 2.52%. 
Rank: 38. 

Rhode Island[A]: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 77.6%; 
Rank: 9; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 11.5%; 
Rank: 4; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 4.19
Rank: 13. 

Massachusetts: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 72.2%; 
Rank: 10; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 8.3%; 
Rank: 29; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 3.28%. 
Rank: 26. 

California[A]: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 68.8%; 
Rank: 11; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 12.5%; 
Rank: 2; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 4.48%. 
Rank: 11. 

Wisconsin: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 60.8%; 
Rank: 12; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 7.5%; 
Rank: 37; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 3.64%. 
Rank: 18. 

Ohio[A]: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 60.6%; 
Rank: 13; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 9.5%; 
Rank: 18; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 4.95%. 
Rank: 8. 

Illinois: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 56.3%; 
Rank: 14; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 9.2%; 
Rank: 21; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 6.53%. 
Rank: 4. 

Idaho[A]: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 53.8%; 
Rank: 15; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 9.7%; 
Rank: 12; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 3.59%. 
Rank: 19. 

Indiana[A]: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 52.8%; 
Rank: 16; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 9.5%; 
Rank: 17; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 4.78%. 
Rank: 9. 

North Carolina: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 52.5%; 
Rank: 17; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 9.8%; 
Rank: 11; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 2.56%. 
Rank: 36. 

Virginia: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 52.2%; 
Rank: 18; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 6.6%; 
Rank: 43; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 2.03%. 
Rank: 44. 

Tennessee: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 52%; 
Rank: 19; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 9.4%; 
Rank: 19; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 2.53%. 
Rank: 37. 

Delaware: 
Percentage change in nonseasonal vacancies 2000-2010: 50.8%; 
Rank: 20; 
Unemployment rate as of December 2010: 8.5%; 
Rank: 27; 
Percentage of loans in foreclosure as of end of December 2010: 4.18%. 
Rank: 14. 

Sources: Mortgage Bankers Association, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
2000 and 2010 Census. 

[A] State ranked in the top 20 for all three indicators. 

Note: This table shows the percentage change between 2000 and 2010 in 
the number of vacant properties, the unemployment rate (seasonally 
adjusted) as of December 2010, and the percentage of loans in 
foreclosure as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2010. The national 
percentage of loans in foreclosure includes Puerto Rico; the rankings 
do not. 

[End of figure] 

The length of the foreclosure process, from initiation of foreclosure 
to eventual resale and reoccupation, may also contribute to increased 
vacancy rates because borrowers may leave their properties during the 
process. In some cases, the longer a foreclosure takes, the more 
likely a property is to become vacant or remain so, according to 
community and servicer representatives (see figure 5). Foreclosure 
timelines are affected by the type of procedures states use to conduct 
foreclosures. States generally follow one of two methods for their 
foreclosure process: judicial, with a judge presiding over the process 
in a court proceeding, or statutory (nonjudicial), with the process 
proceeding outside the courtroom in accordance with state 
law.[Footnote 25] A research study by Federal Reserve Board staff 
found that borrowers in nonjudicial states left their homes sooner 
after the start of the foreclosure process than borrowers in judicial 
states.[Footnote 26] States with judicial foreclosure processes, such 
as New York, New Jersey, and Florida, generally have longer 
foreclosure timelines; these longer timelines can contribute to 
foreclosure-related vacancy levels in those states because the longer 
the process takes, the more likely borrowers are to leave their homes. 
Redemption periods that allow borrowers time after foreclosure to pay 
to reclaim their homes can also prolong the time that a foreclosed 
property is vacant. According to information from an association of 
mortgage banking law firms, redemption periods range from 10 days in 
New Jersey to over 6 months in South Dakota. 

Figure 5: Example Timeline of the Foreclosure Process and Potential 
Periods of Vacancy: 

[Refer to PDF for image: illustration] 

Home occupied, and original owner makes payments: 

Delinquency begins/loss mitigation: 
Job loss hardship. 

3 months (90 days): 

1) Foreclosure initiated by bank: 
10%-20% are vacant. 

4 months (128 days): 

2) Foreclosure judgment by Court: 

2 months (63 days): 

3) Foreclosure sale: 
40%-50% are vacant. 

Potential vacancy period 

1-3) Nonjudicial process takes half this time period on average (3 
months/95 days). 

Redemption period: 
3 months (88 days). 

6 months (181 days): 
Property sold; 
Most are vacant. 

Sources: GAO (analysis); Art Explosion (images); U.S. Foreclosure 
Network and HUD (timelines); HUD, government-sponsored enterprises, 
and mortgage servicers (percentage of properties vacant at each stage 
of the foreclosure process). 

[End of figure] 

No comprehensive data are available on the duration of the foreclosure 
process or the length of time a property that has completed 
foreclosure remains vacant before being reoccupied; however, available 
information from various sources indicates that the amount of time can 
be significant. For example, according to GSE data, the time between 
the date the servicer received the last mortgage payment, and the date 
of the foreclosure sale, ranged from 423 days on average from 2010 
through the second quarter of 2011 to 453 days on average for the 
first 3 quarters of October 2011. These averages varied by state, 
ranging from just under a year in Michigan to around 2 years in New 
Jersey and Vermont). Recent events and legislative changes may have 
contributed to the length of these foreclosure timelines. According to 
one report, some states have extended the length of the foreclosure 
process in order to provide more opportunities for homeowners to avoid 
foreclosure in response to the 2007 crisis. [Footnote 27] In addition, 
we have previously reported that moratoriums on foreclosures due to 
improper foreclosure documentation problems at several servicers in 
2010, and resulting delays due to increased judicial demands, have 
stalled foreclosures in some states.[Footnote 28] Following the 
foreclosure sale, according to HUD data, HUD-owned properties spent an 
average of 181 days in HUD's inventory in fiscal year 2010 before they 
were sold. In addition, a recent research paper by an economist at the 
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland found that in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 
which encompasses Cleveland, homes sold through a foreclosure sale had 
high vacancy rates immediately thereafter and were more likely than 
homes sold through ordinary transactions to be vacant up to 60 months 
after the foreclosure was completed.[Footnote 29] 

In the current environment, the length of time that a foreclosed home 
may be vacant has likely increased because overall housing demand is 
significantly lower than earlier in the decade as reflected in a 
variety of housing market indicators, according to government and 
academic analyses. For example, home sales have declined significantly 
in recent years, according to an analysis of two industry estimates, 
which estimated that home sales at the end of 2010 were significantly 
below 2005 levels.[Footnote 30] Another indicator of low demand for 
housing is the decline in home prices, as reflected in two widely used 
indexes of house prices.[Footnote 31] These price indexes show that 
national house prices declined between 2006-2007 and 2010.[Footnote 
32] For example, according to a 2011 analysis of one index, house 
prices declined an estimated 29 percent nationwide between 2006 and 
October 2010.[Footnote 33] In addition, an academic research institute 
noted in a recent analysis that vacancy levels may be relatively high 
in part because the number of new households formed in the country 
appears to have been significantly lower over the 2005 to 2010 period 
than it was in the 2001 to 2005 period.[Footnote 34] Further, 
community representatives we interviewed in two cities noted that some 
residents cannot afford homeownership, or are not being approved for 
mortgage loans, no matter what the selling price. 

Recent economic conditions, including the high rate of unemployment, 
have contributed to an increase in foreclosures and a decrease in 
housing demand and, as a result, may be contributing to the increase 
in vacant properties and the length of time properties on the market 
remain vacant in some localities. Local officials and community groups 
in Cape Coral, Las Vegas, and Tucson, for example, stated that many 
property owners who have gone through foreclosure in the last 2 years 
cited unemployment as the reason that they were having trouble meeting 
their mortgage payments. As shown in figure 4 above, 9 of the 20 
states with the greatest increases in vacant properties between 2000 
and 2010 also were among the 20 states with the largest percentage of 
loans in foreclosure, and had unemployment rates that exceeded the 
national rate, as of the end of December 2010. Unemployed residents 
may be unable to afford mortgage payments, property maintenance and 
repair costs, and local property taxes, and may abandon a property as 
a result. Residents without mortgages may also be unable to pay 
maintenance costs. For example, one local official in Indianapolis 
stated that some vacant properties in that city were vacated by owners 
who, although they may not have had mortgages, were unable to pay 
local property taxes or afford the maintenance on their homes. 

Another factor that can increase the prevalence of vacant properties 
is the extent to which they are owned by investors rather than 
homeowners. Investors are frequent purchasers of foreclosed homes in 
certain cities, including Cape Coral, Cleveland, Las Vegas, and 
Tucson, according to local officials and community group 
representatives. Investors tend to try to resell properties quickly or 
rent them out, according to some of these representatives. Some 
investors may not invest in the properties or respond to code 
violations if they will not be able to recoup their investments by 
renting or selling the properties. High foreclosures or poor economic 
conditions may affect the ability of investors to resell properties or 
to find qualified tenants who can pay rent. Investors may decide to 
leave properties vacant if they are unable to sell them or to rent 
them to a qualified tenant or may abandon them completely. Although 
comprehensive data are not available, HUD data indicate that about 
30,000 of the approximately 88,000 foreclosed HUD-owned properties 
sold in fiscal year 2010 were sold to investors, as opposed to owner-
occupants. 

In certain cities, local officials also pointed to population declines 
as a contributing factor to increased vacancies. In Cleveland and 
Detroit, for example, the population has declined substantially over 
the past decade, according to Census data (see table 2). 

Table 2: Population in Selected Cities and Percentage Increase in 
Nonseasonal Vacancies, 2000 and 2010: 

City: Tucson, Arizona; 
Percentage increase in number of nonseasonal vacant properties, 2000-
2010: 57.8; 
Population 2000: 486,699; 
Population 2010: 520,116; 
Population change: 33,417; 
Change (%): 6.9. 

City: Indio, CA; 
Percentage increase in number of nonseasonal vacant properties, 2000-
2010: 200.6; 
Population 2000: 49,116; 
Population 2010: 76,036; 
Population change: 26,920; 
Change (%): 54.8. 

City: Cape Coral, Florida; 
Percentage increase in number of nonseasonal vacant properties, 2000-
2010: 455.4; 
Population 2000: 102,286; 
Population 2010: 154,305; 
Population change: 52,019; 
Change (%): 50.9. 

City: Chicago, Illinois; 
Percentage increase in number of nonseasonal vacant properties, 2000-
2010: 60.2; 
Population 2000: 2,896,016; 
Population 2010: 2,695,598; 
Population change: -200,418; 
Change (%): -6.9. 

City: Indianapolis, Indiana; 
Percentage increase in number of nonseasonal vacant properties, 2000-
2010: 48.8; 
Population 2000: 781,870; 
Population 2010: 820,445; 
Population change: 38,575; 
Change (%): 4.9. 

City: Baltimore, Maryland; 
Percentage increase in number of nonseasonal vacant properties, 2000-
2010: 11.4; 
Population 2000: 651,154; 
Population 2010: 620,961; 
Population change: -30,193; 
Change (%): -4.6. 

City: Detroit, Michigan; 
Percentage increase in number of nonseasonal vacant properties, 2000-
2010: 107.9; 
Population 2000: 951,270; 
Population 2010: 713,777; 
Population change: -237,493; 
Change (%): -25.0. 

City: Las Vegas, Nevada; 
Percentage increase in number of nonseasonal vacant properties, 2000-
2010: 137.4; 
Population 2000: 478,434; 
Population 2010: 583,756; 
Population change: 105,322; 
Change (%): 22.0. 

City: Cleveland, Ohio; 
Percentage increase in number of nonseasonal vacant properties, 2000-
2010: 62; 
Population 2000: 478,403; 
Population 2010: 396,815; 
Population change: -81,588; 
Change (%): -17.1. 

Sources: Census 2000, 2010. 

[End of table] 

The population in Cleveland declined by 17 percent between 2000 and 
2010, and the population of Detroit declined 25 percent. Community 
group representatives in Baltimore, another city with a decline in 
population, told us that these reductions in population have left 
fewer residents to maintain the existing supply of properties. Some of 
these properties are as much as 100 years old or require more 
maintenance. A community representative stated that these older houses 
are expensive to maintain and lack amenities such as garages. Some 
officials we spoke with in these cities stated that, for economic 
reasons, the populations of these cities were unlikely to increase in 
the future. As a result, the cities were likely to have many long-term 
vacant properties that would have to be demolished. 

Improperly Maintained Vacant Properties Create Costs and Other 
Problems for Neighborhoods and Local Governments: 

Local Standards Mandate Maintenance of Properties, but Concerns about 
Legal Barriers Can Limit Mortgage Servicers' Maintenance Activities: 

Local governments and communities have various standards in place for 
property maintenance, but homes that become vacant can create problems 
for their communities if not properly maintained. Local governments 
have a wide array of building, housing, and property maintenance codes 
that establish standards for the appearance and safety of properties. 
For example, uniform building, fire, and property maintenance codes 
that have been implemented across the country contain special 
provisions for the maintenance of dangerous buildings--those that pose 
threats to the public health, safety, and welfare, such as structural 
insecurity.[Footnote 35] Within local communities, code enforcement 
departments are largely responsible for helping ensure that homeowners 
maintain their properties in accordance with these codes. Code 
enforcement departments can typically issue fines for code violations 
or take actions themselves, such as making repairs, removing debris, 
covering windows and doors to secure properties, or even demolishing 
them, if needed, and bill the responsible party for the costs 
incurred.[Footnote 36] Although homeowners are expected to maintain 
their properties to prevent them from becoming hazardous or negatively 
impacting surrounding property values, they may vacate their homes 
during the foreclosure process and, if the properties are not properly 
maintained, they can create problems for their communities. In these 
cases, code enforcement departments may turn to other parties with an 
interest in the property, such as the mortgage holder or the mortgage 
servicer, to resolve the code violation. 

Servicer representatives and other industry participants said that 
although homeowners are responsible for maintaining their properties, 
the mortgage servicers that administer home loans, including 
initiating foreclosures if loans become delinquent, have the right, 
but not the obligation, to take on this responsibility for properties 
that are vacant during the foreclosure process. For example, they said 
that mortgage security agreements--which document that the home is the 
collateral for the home loan obligation and can be foreclosed upon and 
sold by the mortgage owner if the loan is not repaid--typically 
provide that the mortgage owner or the servicer contractually acting 
on the mortgage owner's behalf has the right to take various actions 
intended to preserve the value of the collateral. In particular, many 
home loans are sold to the GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the 
uniform mortgage documents associated with these loans provide that 
whether or not a borrower is living in a property, the borrower is 
expected to maintain the property in order to prevent it from 
deteriorating or decreasing in value due to its condition. The GSE 
documents also state that if a borrower fails to maintain the property 
or abandons it, the servicer--acting on behalf of the mortgage owner--
may do reasonable and appropriate maintenance to protect the lender's 
interest in the property, such as securing it. GSE representatives 
said that this right to maintain a property is intended to allow the 
servicer to preserve the value of the property serving as the 
collateral for the loan as a way of maximizing the proceeds recovered 
through an eventual sale of the property to another party. According 
to the uniform GSE mortgage document, the types of maintenance that 
fall under this clause could include entering the property to make 
repairs, changing locks, replacing or boarding up doors and windows, 
draining water from pipes, eliminating building or other code 
violations or dangerous conditions, and having utilities turned on or 
off. Although servicers may take these actions under the mortgage 
document, they are not obligated to do so under GSE uniform mortgage 
documents. In addition, GSE officials indicated that some state 
trespass laws may contradict servicers' rights to access a property 
for the purposes of preservation and protection under the mortgage 
documents and that this right has been challenged in court. 

For loans in foreclosure being serviced on behalf of the GSEs and FHA, 
servicer representatives said that they conduct maintenance on vacant 
and abandoned properties in accordance with those entities' property 
preservation and protection guidelines. For example, the GSEs' 
requirements for their servicers provide generally that servicers must 
be in compliance with local laws, such as local ordinances related to 
the maintenance of vacant and abandoned properties. Their guidance 
also provides that servicers should inspect properties as soon as they 
become aware they might be vacant and then every 30 days, or more 
frequently if the property is located in an area with a high rate of 
vandalism. In addition, they are expected to secure vacant properties 
to protect them from waste, damage, and vandalism and to protect their 
value. For example, the Fannie Mae servicing guidelines state that the 
servicer is responsible for performing all property maintenance 
functions, including mowing the grass, removing trash and other debris 
that violate applicable law or pose a health or safety hazard, and 
preparing the property for winter, among other things. Similarly, FHA 
guidelines require servicers to inspect vacant properties at least 
every 25 to 35 days, secure and protect the properties to prevent 
unauthorized entry, and protect against weather-related damage. FHA 
staff said that once properties are conveyed to the agency, they are 
inspected every 2 weeks. FHA also has specific guidelines on 
maintenance, such as how to secure properties by covering doors and 
windows with boards if needed, how often the grass should be cut, and 
what steps to take to prevent water pipes from freezing during winter 
months. 

Servicer representatives said that for loans they own or are servicing 
on behalf of a private securitization trust--which are organized by 
financial institutions rather than the GSEs and do not have a 
government guarantee--and sold to investors, they follow the pooling 
and servicing agreements of these trusts and their own policies. 
[Footnote 37] These agreements and policies largely call for them to 
take steps similar to those required by the GSEs and FHA to maintain 
properties. In addition, the servicers may have other policies they 
follow for these properties. For example, representatives of one 
servicer stated that the company recently implemented a policy to 
maintain properties "at or above community standards." Staff of 
another servicer told us that their focus during the foreclosure 
period was on mitigating any public safety issues with the property, 
such as a gas leak, and on remaining in compliance with local codes on 
lawn maintenance. Servicer representatives generally said that their 
goal during the preforeclosure period was to keep properties secure 
and prevent further damage and code violations. 

Servicers that manage loans going through foreclosure on behalf of 
different loanholders incur various costs to maintain properties not 
otherwise being maintained by the homeowners. The owner or insurer of 
the loans typically reimburses servicers for most of these costs after 
the foreclosure process is completed. For example, table 3 shows the 
property maintenance costs incurred during the foreclosure process for 
which the GSEs reimbursed servicers in 2010.[Footnote 38] Our analysis 
shows that the vast majority of the costs were incurred following the 
foreclosure sale. Prior to the foreclosure, the GSEs reimbursed 
servicers $235 per property, on average, for maintenance-related 
expenses prior to the foreclosure sale. According to data from one of 
the GSEs, almost half of the expenses during the preforeclosure period 
were for yard maintenance and securing properties. 

Table 3: GSEs' Reimbursements to Servicers and Payments to Vendors for 
Maintenance Costs Incurred Prior to and Following Foreclosure Sale, 
2010: 

2010: 

Preforeclosure; 
Total properties: 482,901; 
Total spent: $113,568,550; 
Average per property: $235. 

Postforeclosure; 
Total properties: 481,756; 
Total spent: $839,973,900; 
Average per property: $1,744. 

Total 2010; 
Total properties: NA; 
Total spent: $953,542,450; 
Average per property: NA. 

Source: GAO analysis of GSE data. 

Note: The totals for the number of properties in each category 
represent the unique number of properties that moved into each 
category during the year. The numbers cannot be totaled because 
properties moved into and out of the categories during the year, may 
have been in both during the year, and may have spent different 
lengths of time in each category. 

[End of table] 

Compared to the GSEs, FHA requires servicers to conduct additional 
maintenance, including removal of interior debris, to bring a property 
into "broom-swept" condition before transferring, or conveying, the 
property to the agency.[Footnote 39] This type of maintenance is 
typically done in the postforeclosure sale period on other properties. 
Therefore, FHA's preconveyance reimbursements to servicers are higher 
than GSE preforeclosure reimbursements. As shown in table 4, FHA 
reimbursed servicers about $1,982 per property for maintenance-related 
expenses prior to conveyance to FHA in 2010.[Footnote 40] As discussed 
above, liability concerns associated with conducting maintenance 
during the preforeclosure period are a significant reason for this 
difference, according to GSE representatives. 

Table 4: FHA Reimbursement to Servicers and Contractors for 
Maintenance Costs Incurred Prior to and Following Conveyance, 2010: 

2010: 

Preconveyance; 
Total properties: 89,214; 
Total spent: $176,828,704; 
Average per property: $1,982. 

Postconveyance; 
Total properties: 165,105; 
Total spent: $38,568,420; 
Average per property: $234. 

Total 2010; 
Total properties: NA; 
Total spent: $215,397,124; 
Average per property: NA. 

Source: GAO analysis of FHA data. 

Note: The totals for the number of properties in each category 
represent the unique number of properties that moved into each 
category during the year, but cannot be totaled because properties 
moved into and out of the categories and some properties may have been 
in both during the year and may have spent different lengths of time 
in each category. In addition, the preconveyance total spent does not 
include subsequent adjustments of 1 to 5 percent due to file reviews. 

[End of table] 

The states with the highest per property maintenance costs were 
generally those that follow a judicial foreclosure process, where a 
judge presides over the process in a court proceeding. Because of the 
additional legal work, foreclosure generally takes longer to complete 
in these states; therefore, maintenance may be more costly because it 
is required for longer periods of time. 

Following the foreclosure sale, ownership of a property transfers to 
the purchaser and, in some cases, servicers may no longer have 
responsibility for maintaining properties. Properties that servicers 
were managing on behalf of the GSEs are transferred to the GSEs if no 
third party steps in to purchase the home at the foreclosure sale. If 
a GSE purchases a property at foreclosure, commonly referred to as 
REO, the GSEs manage the maintenance, marketing, and subsequent sale 
of these properties. As shown in table 3, in 2010, the GSEs spent on 
average $1,744 per property and a total of $953 million for 
maintenance on REO properties.[Footnote 41] Most of the 
postforeclosure costs were for trash removal and yard maintenance (see 
figure 6). 

Figure 6: GSEs' Property Maintenance Costs Paid on Properties for 
Which They Assumed Ownership through Foreclosure, 2010: 

[Refer to PDF for image: pie-chart] 

Boarding, securing: 6% ($50,077,806); 
Repair, hazard, emergency repairs, demolition: 6% ($52,016,070); 
In section, vacant property registration, and other costs: 10% 
($84,014,674); 
Utilities: 13% ($108,211,558); 
Yard maintenance: 30% ($249,296,452); 
Trash removal and cleaning: 35% ($296,357,249). 

Source: GAO analysis of GSE data. 

Note: Trash removal and cleaning costs may include initial property 
cleaning and automobile removal. Yard maintenance costs may include 
tree removal, snow removal, temporary sprinkler system. 

[End of figure] 

Servicers no longer have responsibility for maintaining properties 
that served as collateral for FHA-insured mortgages once they convey 
them to FHA following a foreclosure sale at which no third party 
purchases the home, and any state redemption period expires. Once 
servicers convey properties to FHA, the agency has management and 
marketing contractors that conduct property maintenance. In 2010, FHA 
reimbursed these contractors, on average, $234 per property and a 
total of about $38 million for maintenance on REO properties (see 
table 4). Most of these expenses were for repairs, such as roofing, 
mold abatement, lead-based paint removal, and utilities (see figure 7). 

Figure 7: Types and Amounts of FHA Property Maintenance Costs Paid to 
Contractors Post Conveyance, 2010: 

[Refer to PDF for image: pie-chart] 

Repair/hazard/emergency costs: 49% ($19,101,650); 
Other: 30%; ($11,543,154); 
Utilities: 18% ($6,891,193); 
Demolition: 1% ($434,275); 
Yard maintenance: 1% ($300,162); 
Trash removal: 1% ($261,299); 
Boarding/securing: 0% ($36,687). 

Source: GAO analysis of GSE data. 

Note: Repair/Hazard/Emergency costs include lead paint removal and 
related costs, abatement of mold and damage resulting from a home 
being used to produce methamphetamine, roofing repairs, system checks 
and repairs, and other general or miscellaneous repairs. Other costs 
include costs for appliances, termite treatment, window or door bar 
removal, winterizing, and other miscellaneous costs. 

[End of figure] 

In cases in which servicers are administering a foreclosure of a loan 
that they own or are servicing on behalf of a private-label 
securitization trust, the servicers are obligated to maintain the 
property if it is not sold to a third party following a foreclosure 
sale because they become (or, in the case of a securitization trust 
are acting on behalf of) the new legal owner.[Footnote 42] When they 
take possession of a property after a foreclosure sale, servicer 
representatives reported that they may conduct work on the property 
beyond preservation and protection to increase its market value and 
therefore recover more proceeds from its subsequent sale. For example, 
in addition to the exterior maintenance activities, they may conduct 
more serious repairs, such as to the roof or foundation, as well as 
interior maintenance or other cosmetic changes, such as painting or 
replacing carpet and appliances. 

Though most of the servicers we interviewed told us they do their best 
to meet local requirements and acknowledged that their organizations 
had the right to act to preserve the collateral value of vacant 
properties on which they are initiating foreclosure proceedings, local 
government officials said that servicers may not be providing the 
levels of maintenance that communities expect in some cases. For 
example, servicers typically conduct periodic inspections of 
properties throughout the delinquency, foreclosure, and REO periods 
and may arrange for maintenance work, if necessary, as a result of 
inspectors' observations. However, staff from one servicer noted that 
vandalism or other damage to a property could occur between these 
inspections. In addition, some servicer and GSE representatives told 
us that, prior to a foreclosure sale, servicers are reluctant to enter 
properties or conduct interior maintenance unless the problem would 
cause further deterioration of the property, such as a leaking water 
pipe, because they are not the owners and could be accused of 
trespassing or held liable for anything that was removed from the 
property.[Footnote 43] Further, because servicers are required under 
the GSE or HUD guidelines to seek approval for certain unusually 
expensive or complicated repairs that would cost more than specific 
dollar thresholds, they may not always act immediately to resolve such 
problems. Obtaining the necessary approvals to conduct work that 
exceeds the allowed amounts under the servicing guidelines can take 
time and, in some cases, such requests are denied. For example, 
according to HUD officials the agency considers federal laws and 
regulations to supercede local laws and ordinances. Therefore, while 
they said that foreclosed properties in the agency's inventory are 
generally in compliance with local laws and ordinances, the agency may 
exercise its discretion to use less costly methods than the locality 
requires. Another reason servicers might not be maintaining properties 
in foreclosure up to the expectations of localities is that they have 
decided to abandon the foreclosure process on the property because the 
expected proceeds from the sale of the property would not cover the 
costs of foreclosure. Because a foreclosure sale never occurred on 
these properties, the borrowers remain the legal owners even though 
they may no longer live in the properties. In these abandoned 
foreclosure cases, representatives of four out of the five servicers 
we interviewed said they would not continue to incur costs for 
maintaining the properties.[Footnote 44] In a recent report, we found 
that abandoned foreclosures were particularly prevalent on low-value 
properties and in distressed urban areas such as Detroit, Chicago, 
Cleveland, and Indianapolis.[Footnote 45] 

Following a foreclosure sale, servicers also may be limited in their 
actions on a property despite local expectations because of any state 
redemption periods. In some states, the purchaser of a property does 
not have full rights to it immediately after the foreclosure sale. 
Some states allow borrowers additional time--called redemption 
periods--following the foreclosure sale to live in the home and pay 
off the remaining amount of the mortgage and foreclosure expenses. 
These redemption periods can last from 10 days to 6 months, depending 
on state laws, according to information from an association of 
mortgage servicing law firms. Because the previous homeowner could 
continue to occupy the home and may regain rights to the property by 
repaying the outstanding debt during these periods, servicers 
typically wait for the redemption period to expire before conducting 
any repairs or marketing a property for sale. However, according to 
representatives of two servicers, they typically would conduct 
maintenance, such as cutting the grass, on a vacant property during 
the redemption period. 

Unattended Vacant Properties Impose Costs on Local Governments and 
Communities and Reduce Revenues: 

When homeowners, entities that have assumed ownership of properties 
through foreclosure, or mortgage servicers do not maintain vacant 
properties, or when vacant properties are not maintained sufficiently 
to comply with local building or public safety standards, local 
governments expend millions of dollars in direct costs to mitigate the 
problems such properties may cause. As discussed earlier, many 
properties in foreclosure are vacant. For example, a recent study of 
vacant properties in Chicago found that 69 percent of the over 18,000 
vacant properties registered with the city were associated with a 
foreclosure filed between 2006 and the first half of 2010.[Footnote 
46] In such cases, code enforcement departments may issue fines to 
homeowners or lien holders for code violations or bill them for work 
the city did to mitigate the violation. In other cases, an unattended 
vacant property may not have a mortgage or ownership may be unclear; 
therefore, the city likely would have to incur the cost of any work 
done on the property. For example, according to an official in the 
city of Newark, banks were responsible for only 15 to 20 percent of 
the 400 buildings identified as vacant in 2007. 

According to local officials in the nine localities we analyzed, the 
local governments have incurred significant costs to address vacant 
properties within their communities. These costs were spent on tasks 
including boarding up and securing properties, mowing lawns, draining 
pools, and removing debris. Specific costs and amounts local 
government officials reported spending in 2010 include the following: 

* Exterior maintenance: Minimizing the negative or hazardous impact of 
vacant properties by boarding up and securing such properties can cost 
between $233 and $1,400 per property in some cities. Chicago officials 
estimated that they spent about $875,000 to board up 627 properties in 
2010. Detroit building officials estimated the cost of boarding up 
6,000 structures since June 2010 at $1.4 million. Officials in several 
communities we studied also said they expended resources to mow uncut 
lawns, including about $300 per property in Indianapolis, although 
code enforcement department officials in Cape Coral noted they had 
eliminated some costs by enlisting community volunteers to mow the 
lawns of vacant properties. A Detroit official estimated that the city 
spends $25 per property for each lawn mowing on its 40,000 city-owned 
vacant lots and roughly 5,000 city-owned properties. Figure 8 shows 
examples of a boarded-up property in Chicago and an unsecured, vacant 
property in Detroit. 

Figure 8: Examples of Vacant Properties in Chicago and Detroit: 

[Refer to PDF for image: 2 photographs] 

Vacant row houses in Chicago; 
A vacant, unattended property in Detroit, Michigan. 

Source: GAO 

[End of figure] 

Figure 9 shows a fire-damaged property in Henderson, Nevada, in the 
Las Vegas area, on which foreclosure was pending as of August 2011. 

Figure 95: Damaged Property in Henderson, Nevada: 

[Refer to PDF for image: photograph] 

A vacant property damaged by fire in Henderson, Nevada, near Las Vegas. 

Source: City of Henderson, Nevada. 

[End of figure] 

* Demolition: Demolishing structures was another significant expense 
that communities incurred to eliminate the impact of vacant 
properties. The amounts spent on demolition varied by region and type 
of property. Typical demolition costs of detached, single-family 
properties in some cities ranged from $4,800 to $7,000 per property, 
according to our interviews with local officials. Las Vegas officials 
said the range of demolition costs was large--from $2,000 to $20,000-
depending on the size of the property and the extent of lead-based 
paint or asbestos testing and removal needed on the property. 
Depending on the number of properties demolished, the total amounts 
spent in some cities were considerable. For example, Detroit has spent 
about $20 million demolishing almost 4,000 properties since May 2009--
$5,000 per property. In Baltimore, local officials stated that their 
housing stock consists largely of single-family row houses, which are 
expensive to demolish individually. Row houses share walls in common, 
and demolishing one row house may require rebuilding the wall dividing 
the demolished property from one that remains standing. In addition, 
several demolitions on a block can lead to what one housing expert 
called a "sawtooth" effect, with vacant lots alternating with occupied 
structures (see figure 10). Baltimore officials estimated that an 
individual rowhouse could cost between $13,000 and $40,000 to 
demolish, depending on the size and number of walls, and stated that 
demolishing a row of several houses at once was often more strategic, 
although doing so raised the overall cost of the demolition. 

Figure 10: A Row House Next to a Vacant Lot in Baltimore, Maryland: 

[Refer to PDF for image: photograph] 

A row house next to a vacant lot in Baltimore, Maryland. Row houses 
share walls in common and demolishing a single row house may require 
rebuilding the shared wall, as shown here, which increases demolition 
costs. 

Source: GAO. 

[End of figure] 

In contrast, demolition of a single, freestanding structure may cost 
far less. Figure 11 shows the demolition of a single family, detached 
property in Indio, California, where the average cost to demolish a 
property was $7,000-$9,000. 

Figure 11: Demolition of a Single-family Property in Indio, California: 

[Refer to PDF for image: 3 photographs] 

Before (left), during (middle), and after (right) photos of detached 
single-family property demolition in Indio, California. 

Source: City of Indio, California. 

[End of figure] 

* Administrative and judicial costs: In addition to the costs of 
maintaining and demolishing vacant properties, local governments bear 
administrative costs of identifying parties responsible for vacant 
properties in order to assess code violation fines or liens. Code 
enforcement and other officials told us that it is often difficult to 
locate the owners of vacant properties because owners have left their 
homes; they also told us that it is difficult to locate current 
mortgage lien holders or servicers who may have an interest in 
maintaining the properties. Officials said that identifying lien 
holders is difficult because such parties often fail to record changes 
in ownership with local jurisdictions. As we previously reported, one 
code enforcement department official we interviewed allocates a full-
time staff person to identifying parties responsible for vacant 
properties.[Footnote 47] Cities that have dedicated housing courts, 
such as Chicago and Cleveland, spend additional resources on enforcing 
laws governing vacant properties through the judicial system. 
According to a housing court judge in Cleveland, the budget for the 
city's housing court is approximately $3 million. 

Although some cities receive revenue from payment of code violations 
or liens, as well as from other sources including federal funds, that 
offset the costs of maintaining vacant properties, officials in most 
of the cities we studied said that they struggled to pay for these 
activities. As we previously reported, when local governments maintain 
or demolish properties, they may place liens against the properties 
for the associated costs.[Footnote 48] For example, Baltimore code 
enforcement officials stated that the city's boarding and cleaning 
costs total about $2 million per year, though the city recoups most of 
this cost through liens placed on properties for these costs. Not all 
of the cities we interviewed, however, were successful in collecting 
on fines and liens. In Detroit, for example, an official stated that 
the city has submitted $16 million in bills for boarding and has 
received only $100,000 in payments. In addition to the difficulty 
recouping costs through the collection of fines, in some 
jurisdictions, liens may have low priority in the foreclosure process, 
so that other debts are paid from the sale of the house before the 
liens are paid. In one jurisdiction, code enforcement liens were wiped 
out when the foreclosure was completed. Further, revenue from code 
enforcement fines and liens may not be directly returned to code 
enforcement departments but deposited into the locality's general fund. 

Further, revenue from code enforcement liens and federal and other 
sources together may be insufficient to pay for all of the necessary 
activities, particularly large-scale demolition. Officials in 
Baltimore, Detroit, and Chicago, in particular, stated that the 
resources required to demolish the large number of long-term vacant 
properties in those cities exceeds local budgets. Code enforcement 
officials in Detroit and Chicago stated that they would use federal 
funds for demolition. For example, Detroit received $21.3 million for 
demolition-related activities as part of that city's NSP grants. As 
noted earlier, Detroit spent $20 million to demolish almost 4,000 
properties since May 2009, and the city had a backlog of 8,000 
dangerous buildings that were approved for demolition as of May 2011. 
A Detroit official said that the city generally demolished properties 
only as funding became available. Chicago planned to use $1.9 million 
from the city's NSP funds for demolition. Chicago officials stated 
that all funding sources combined fall short of what is needed to 
fully address the vacant property problem. Baltimore officials 
estimated that the city would need approximately $180 million to 
demolish the inventory of unsafe, unattended properties in the city. 
One Detroit official stated that the city's budget lacks sufficient 
resources to maintain the vacant properties for which the city itself 
has assumed ownership up to its own building standards. Reductions in 
local governments' budgets may also be hindering efforts to carry out 
vacant-property-related enforcement activities. In Cleveland, for 
example, the housing court's budget is scheduled to be cut by more 
than 10 percent due to overall budget constraints. 

Vacant properties also produce other costs that can be difficult to 
quantify but also impose burdens on local governments and communities. 
For example, vacant properties can produce increased public safety 
costs related to code-enforcement, police, and fire services. Our past 
work and interviews with representatives in the localities we studied 
showed that vacant properties can be broken into and vandalized, 
illegally occupied, or used by people engaging in criminal activities, 
increasing the risk of fires or other public safety hazards. One code 
enforcement official in the Las Vegas area stated that between four 
and five calls per month are related to vacant property issues. Some 
academic studies also have found relationships between vacant or 
foreclosed properties and crime.[Footnote 49] In some cities, local 
representatives stated that vandalism can occur within 24 hours of a 
house becoming vacant. Officials from several cities stated that they 
had encountered houses that had been stripped of copper pipes or 
wiring or electrical systems or meters, air conditioning units or 
furnaces, and appliances, among other things (see figure 12). A local 
government official in the Las Vegas area stated that illegal 
occupants in properties with utilities shut off could cause fires by 
using alternative energy sources, such as propane tanks or candles. To 
the extent that problems requiring the involvement of police, fire, or 
code enforcement officials occur on properties in between servicers' 
routine monthly inspections, properties that are otherwise maintained 
can also impose increased costs on local governments. For example, one 
community representative in Detroit stated that vandalism can occur in 
both maintained and unattended properties. In addition, staff from a 
property maintenance company told us as part of work we conducted for 
our 2010 report, that in certain areas they had to resecure property 
at every monthly inspection because the properties were constantly 
broken into and vandalized.[Footnote 50] Measuring the effect of 
increases in public safety costs as a result of unattended vacant 
properties is difficult, however, because different city departments 
are often involved, and many localities do not routinely track which 
costs are related to vacant properties. 

Figure 12: Examples of Interior Conditions of Vacant Properties in 
Indio, California: 

[Refer to PDF for image: 2 photographs] 

A stripped electrical box and graffiti inside a vacant property in 
Indio, California, in Riverside County. 

Source: City of Indio, California. 

[End of figure] 

In addition to public safety costs, vacant properties reduce the 
values of surrounding properties. A number of research studies have 
attempted to quantify the effects of foreclosed and vacant properties 
on surrounding areas and found that foreclosed and vacant properties 
reduce values of neighboring occupied properties.[Footnote 51] A 
review by a federal research organization that examined several 
research papers on foreclosure impacts estimated a foreclosed home 
within a neighborhood can depress the prices of nearby properties from 
0.9 percent to up to 8.7 percent.[Footnote 52] Another study estimated 
that, on a single block in a Chicago neighborhood, one foreclosed, 
demolished property may have reduced the values of 13 surrounding 
properties by $17,000 per property compared with the median house 
price in Chicago.[Footnote 53] A recent study of the impact on sales 
prices of vacant, tax-delinquent, and foreclosed properties in 
Cuyahoga County, Ohio, between April 2010 and March 2011 found that a 
vacant property within 500 feet of another property reduces that 
property's price by approximately 0.7 percent.[Footnote 54] The study 
also found that a foreclosed, vacant, and tax-delinquent property 
reduces neighboring property prices by almost 10 percent. In addition, 
the study estimated the loss to home sellers attributable to nearby 
foreclosed, vacant, or tax delinquent properties and found that the 
total value lost is approximately $76 million, with $23 million of the 
loss attributable to properties that are both vacant and tax 
delinquent. Another study that examined the impact on sales prices of 
nearby foreclosed and vacant properties in Columbus, Ohio, found that 
each vacant property within 250 feet of a nearby home could decrease 
its sales price by about 3.5 percent.[Footnote 55] In addition, the 
study, which accounted for differences in neighborhood 
characteristics, found that the average sales price of properties 
located nearest to homes that had experienced both foreclosure and 
vacancy declined more than $8,600. Another analysis of the effects on 
property values in Flint, Michigan, found that a vacant property could 
reduce the value of surrounding homes by approximately 2.27 percent. 
[Footnote 56] 

Declines in property values associated with vacant properties and 
unpaid taxes on vacant properties can lead to reduced property tax 
revenue for local governments. According to the National League of 
Cities, local property tax revenues are determined by the value of 
residential and commercial property, based on property tax assessments 
that the localities conduct.[Footnote 57] As discussed earlier, 
property values have been declining nationwide in recent years, in 
part because of the large numbers of foreclosures and the decline in 
housing demand, which have depressed national house prices. As a 
result, local property tax revenues declined 2 percent in 2010 
compared with 2009 levels and likely will decline further in the next 
few years as property tax assessments are adjusted to reflect falling 
property values, according to a 2011 National League of Cities survey 
of city finance officers from across the country.[Footnote 58] Lower 
property values might also affect the amount of unpaid taxes cities 
recoup from the sale of the property through the tax foreclosure 
process because the property value might be lower than the taxes 
owed.[Footnote 59] Local jurisdictions also sometimes directly lose 
tax revenue from unattended vacant properties when property taxes owed 
by the property owner go unpaid.[Footnote 60] Mortgage servicers 
typically assume property tax payments on properties during the 
mortgage foreclosure process, but if a vacant and abandoned property 
does not have a mortgage, the city may lose tax revenue from that 
property if it cannot be recouped through the tax foreclosure process. 
Further, the city may end up assuming ownership of tax-foreclosed 
properties, many of which can be vacant, if no other party acquires 
the rights to them through the tax foreclosure process. In 2009, 
according to the Wayne County, Michigan, treasurer's office, about 
8,600 properties went through the tax foreclosure process. Of those, 
7,000 were not acquired by other parties and, thus, reverted back to 
the city of Detroit. The city will not receive tax revenue on these 
properties unless it can sell them to new owners. In addition, local 
jurisdictions lose the tax value of a property when a structure is 
demolished.[Footnote 61] 

Local officials we interviewed in several cities stated that property 
taxes are an important source of revenue and that recent declines in 
property tax revenues have led to reductions in government services. 
[Footnote 62] For example, local officials in several of the nine 
jurisdictions we studied stated that property tax revenue declines had 
led to budget cuts and staff reductions within their code enforcement 
departments. One jurisdiction provided information that showed that, 
in spite of increases in the housing stock in the area, housing price 
declines have resulted in its 2010 tax collections being equal to its 
2006 levels, and an official from this jurisdiction stated that a 
recent effort to coordinate a response to vacant foreclosed properties 
was terminated because of budget constraints. An official in another 
jurisdiction stated that property tax revenue had declined between 6 
percent and 8 percent in recent years. Community group representatives 
in a few cities stated that beyond code enforcement services, 
foreclosures and declining property tax revenues contributed to cuts 
of other local services, such as schools and recreational facilities. 
The National League of Cities report also noted that cities had cut 
personnel and city services such as public works, libraries, and parks 
and recreation programs as a result of property tax and other revenue 
declines. Further, a report on the costs of vacant properties in Ohio 
found that, because of lost tax revenues from vacant properties, the 
resources available to provide city services, in particular resources 
to school districts, were limited.[Footnote 63] 

The demand for and decline in availability of city services to deal 
with vacant properties can combine with rising numbers of vacancies to 
contribute to destabilizing communities, according to local community 
representatives. Community group representatives in Chicago, Detroit, 
Indianapolis, and Tucson stated that increases in vacant properties 
contributed to neighborhood decline because a vicious cycle is created 
in neighborhoods with rising numbers of foreclosed or vacant 
properties. Our previous work and interviews with community 
representatives indicated that because of the declines in values of 
homes surrounding vacant properties, neighbors living nearby may have 
difficulty refinancing their own homes and may go into foreclosure 
themselves, leaving additional properties vacant.[Footnote 64] 
Increases in crime related to vacant properties could also lead to 
greater population loss and difficulties in neighborhood 
revitalization strategies. Once a block or neighborhood contains a 
critical number of vacant properties, the loss of population is likely 
to continue, further undermining the investment in a community and 
reducing the revenue base to support local services in those 
neighborhoods. One local community representative stated that vacant 
property problems can tip a neighborhood into decline and contribute 
to a loss of neighborhood worth or spirit. 

State and Local Government Strategies to Address Vacant Properties 
Face Resource and Other Challenges: 

The localities we studied are all engaged in multiple strategies to 
try to minimize the costs and other negative impacts that vacant 
properties create for their communities.[Footnote 65] The strategies 
they choose to implement are based on the conditions of the local real 
estate market and economy, as well as available resources, but their 
effectiveness is also affected by these factors. Efforts range from 
data-gathering efforts to more accurately identify vacant properties 
to acquisition and rehabilitation or, in some cases, demolition of 
abandoned properties. In addition, some localities have created 
additional responsibilities for servicers and others to maintain 
properties and have adjusted code enforcement regulations to create 
greater incentives for property maintenance, as well as establishing 
specialized housing courts to address vacant property and other 
housing issues. These local government strategies face various 
challenges, particularly the lack of sufficient financial and other 
resources to effectively address the large scale of the problem, which 
is exacerbated by the widespread declines in property tax revenues and 
housing market values, as discussed earlier. As result, governments in 
many of the communities we examined are reaching out to members of the 
community--including neighborhood groups and private developers--in an 
attempt to leverage all available resources and increase their 
effectiveness. In addition, local governments have called for 
increased federal funding and greater attention by federal regulators 
to servicers' role in managing vacant properties. 

In-Depth Data-Gathering Helps Local Governments Effectively Target 
Resources: 

Local officials are attempting to address problems associated with 
vacant properties by engaging in a wide variety of data-gathering 
efforts in order to understand the scope of vacant properties in their 
jurisdictions, as the following examples show: 

* Compiling and analyzing data from existing sources: Officials in 
three of the cities we reviewed told us they collect and analyze data 
from a variety of city departments--code enforcement, police, and 
fire--as well as statistics from the courts, such as foreclosure and 
related title information, in order to determine where vacant or 
potentially vacant properties are located. 

* Independently collecting new data: In some cities, city leaders have 
involved staff or community members in data-collection efforts at the 
neighborhood level. As discussed earlier, in Cleveland, annually for 
the last 3 years, a team of city employees has walked street by street 
to count vacant and distressed properties, using standardized 
definitions and indicators of distress such as houses that are boarded 
up, open, or vandalized. Officials in Baltimore and Detroit hired a 
firm to create "market typologies" of various neighborhoods, pulling 
data from multiple sources--city departments, USPS, county assessor--
in order to understand market strength in individual neighborhoods. 
Representatives from community organizations in Detroit and 
Indianapolis told us that volunteers collect real-time information on 
property conditions in their neighborhoods, compiling prioritized 
lists of houses that need either board-ups or rehabilitation 
investment. According to the community group in Detroit, those lists 
were then provided to the city to use in devising its board-up 
strategy. 

* Leveraging resources from local universities and research 
organizations: Some of the cities we studied have partnered or 
contracted with a local university or research organization to collect 
both existing data and new statistics. In Tucson, researchers from a 
local university conducted a survey of properties and structures 
(water systems, bus shelters) in five neighborhoods targeted to 
receive NSP funds in order to understand, among other things, the 
number and condition of vacant properties. At Case Western University 
in Cleveland, researchers developed and maintain a public website--the 
Northeast Ohio Community and Neighborhood Data for Organizing (NEO 
CANDO)--that houses social, demographic, and property data. The 
property data (going back to approximately 2000) were added beginning 
in 2005 specifically to help community development organizations and 
city leaders be more data driven. The data include property and lot 
characteristics, code enforcement actions, foreclosure filings, tax 
delinquencies, and sales transactions. NEO CANDO also has water 
department data on shutoffs, postal service data on vacancies, and 
information purchased from a proprietary real estate database, 
including the dates that adjustable rate mortgage loan interest rates 
will reset. According to a 2010 report on NEO CANDO and neighborhood 
stabilization efforts in Cleveland, officials from the city and local 
community organizations use and rely on the NEO CANDO data.[Footnote 
66] 

These data--which can include more detailed information such as 
property condition and identity of the owner or responsible party, as 
well as aggregated neighborhood-level data, such as the number of 
homes with loans in default--enable more effective tracking of 
properties likely to cause problems, and can serve as an early warning 
system, so that issues can be addressed while they are still 
manageable, according to an organization involved in building local 
government capacity. However, in the nine localities we reviewed, most 
officials we spoke with had estimates but not precise data on the 
number and condition of vacant properties in their communities. 

Many city officials are using these data to target their resources to 
narrowly defined areas in order to maximize their investments rather 
than putting small amounts of funds toward a wide range of 
communities. For example, city officials in Baltimore, as part of its 
"Vacants to Value" campaign, used the data from the market typology 
research and proximity to other nearby redevelopment projects to 
identify housing markets in distressed areas and to target appropriate 
interventions. These markets are characterized by high concentrations 
of abandoned properties, many of which are owned by the city or are in 
tax arrears, but due to the adjacent development efforts, private 
developers are interested in rehabilitating some of these blocks. 
According to Baltimore officials, the city's targeting of code 
enforcement efforts in these neighborhoods has assisted private 
developers and a local community development organization in acquiring 
properties for redevelopment and attracting investors in their 
projects. Similarly, Indianapolis and Cleveland officials told us they 
have targeted specific community areas that have strong ongoing 
community development and neighborhood organizations, with the 
capacity to support and bolster city investments. 

Although these data-collection and targeting efforts can help 
municipal leaders make decisions, they can be limited in certain ways. 
These efforts can help leaders make informed and strategic decisions 
about where to make investments and to prioritize projects and needs 
using objective criteria (such as number of vacancies per square mile) 
as opposed to relying solely on political factors. Specifically, city 
and community representatives told us that objective, reliable data on 
the numbers and locations of vacant properties are important to their 
efforts to design and target strategies to address the problems that 
vacant properties produce. For example, community organization members 
we spoke to in Baltimore supported the city's new "market-based 
approach" and noted that it does not make economic sense to acquire or 
rehabilitate property when there is no private funding for 
development. However, data collection requires resources and continued 
updating since vacancies can occur rapidly due to continued 
foreclosures. Furthermore, information about vacant and abandoned 
properties typically must be assembled from various county and city 
offices, each of which may operate a unique data system. Data-
gathering efforts, such as door-to-door surveys, can be resource 
intensive and expensive. Also, some city officials we spoke with noted 
that politically, targeting resources to limited areas can be 
difficult. Local government officials in Detroit told us they plan on 
using their upcoming market research to bolster their arguments for 
targeting funds to fewer, smaller areas of the city instead of giving 
small amounts of funds to all neighborhoods. However, if resources go 
to one area, by default they are not going to others, and those 
communities may still be in need. 

Property Acquisition and Rehabilitation Strategies Are Also Being Used 
to Address Vacant Properties: 

To mitigate the damage caused by vacant properties, city officials and 
partner community organizations in eight of the nine cities we studied 
are engaged in efforts to acquire and rehabilitate such properties, 
often using federal funds. However, such efforts face declining home 
values, ongoing foreclosures, and sluggish economic conditions. In a 
typical acquisition and rehabilitation effort, a city acquires 
properties either through strategic purchase of foreclosed properties 
or by default as a result of no-sale at tax foreclosure. When 
feasible, these properties are then rehabilitated for a new owner or 
renter, usually by a community development corporation or similar 
organization. For example, in Cape Coral, Florida, the city purchased 
82 foreclosed homes for rehabilitation and then used other funds for 
homebuyer assistance. In Indio, California, officials used $11.1 
million in NSP funds to purchase 58 foreclosed homes for 
rehabilitation and resale to first-time homebuyers. 

These types of city-led acquisition and rehabilitation efforts can 
help stabilize neighborhoods, because city leaders purchase properties 
with the goal of preserving communities. In contrast, some out-of-
state investors, in an attempt to make a purchase and then quickly 
resell or "flip" properties, may undertake only minimal renovations so 
properties can be rented or resold to generate cash flow, according to 
some community organization representatives we spoke with and a study 
from federal researchers. One way cities can acquire properties ahead 
of investors and help ensure they go to owners with potentially 
greater incentive to maintain them is through "first look" programs, 
which provide cities with the opportunity to purchase properties from 
foreclosing owners before they are publicly offered for sale. The 
National Community Stabilization Trust (the Trust), which was formed 
by various nationwide community groups, is a national organization 
that offers "first look" programs within targeted neighborhoods. 
[Footnote 67] As part of this program, the Trust maintains a database 
of foreclosed properties in targeted neighborhoods from lists provided 
by financial institutions. Cities and nonprofit organizations are 
given access to the listings before they become available for sale in 
the private market. The government and nonprofit officials are given 5 
days to indicate whether they are interested in acquiring any of the 
homes. This "first look" window of review is offered only to cities 
and community development organizations, not the public or other 
investors. Both Tucson and Cape Coral officials purchased NSP 
properties through a "first look" program, and officials in Cape Coral 
said that obtaining the properties without the first look advantage 
would have been difficult, given the high level of investor interest 
in their community. 

Another advantage of city-led acquisition and rehabilitation efforts 
is that the city can target its resources to areas of greatest need or 
where they will have the most impact. Several of those we spoke with 
noted that acquisition and rehabilitation efforts are most successful 
when they concentrate their efforts in pockets of strength where there 
are other investments nearby. There are rarely sufficient funds and 
resources, they said, to rehabilitate a whole neighborhood, but a 
small area near other existing assets (retail district, school) can 
work. For example, in the latest round of NSP projects, Tucson 
officials focused their efforts in older, more established 
neighborhoods that were mixed use--having commercial and retail sites--
and therefore might attract private market buyers and developers who 
are willing and interested in returning the properties to productive 
use. Finally, rehabilitating real estate that is newer is usually more 
cost efficient because the costs and time needed for the work to 
update the property can be recouped sufficiently when it is resold. 

While many view acquisition and rehabilitation as a strong strategy to 
combat the problems of vacant properties, lack of capacity, poor 
property conditions, and the large volume of foreclosures complicate 
efforts at the local level as follows: 

* Lack of capacity: Officials and industry participants we spoke with 
noted that even with first look programs, government bodies do not 
always have the ability--including sufficient funds or expertise--to 
quickly complete real estate deals. Several city officials told us 
that, despite the importance of targeting a well-defined block or 
tract for redevelopment, they do not always have the ability to 
acquire sufficient numbers of properties within that area to make the 
investment worthwhile, and sometimes securing funding is difficult. 
For example, an official in Chicago told us that initially they had 
identified a block with 10 homes to rehabilitate for NSP. However, 
when they researched the properties' ownership, they found that the 
city would be able to acquire at most half of those 10 properties 
because of the difficulty in obtaining clear title to some of them. 
For example, one property was still undergoing the foreclosure 
process; another was a "walkaway," in which the lender had initiated 
but chose not to complete the foreclosure; and another had a "remote 
owner" who was difficult to reach. In addition, a study by Federal 
Reserve researchers noted that funding capacity constraints were 
preventing most community development organizations from redeveloping 
enough vacant homes to reverse the decline of neighborhood home 
values.[Footnote 68] 

* Poor property conditions: In addition, poor property conditions can 
make acquisition and rehabilitation efforts costly and challenging. 
Acquired properties may have been vacant for long periods of time and 
therefore may require substantial rehabilitation. This problem has 
worsened as housing market values have continued to decline. With 
costly rehabilitation and low housing values, governments, community 
development organizations, or investors may not be able to recoup 
their costs for rehabilitating properties in poor condition by 
reselling them. For example, a community group representative from 
Baltimore said that 4 or 5 years ago, home values were high enough to 
support rehabilitation of properties in poor condition in some areas 
that bordered those in decline. Current values, however, do not 
support rehabilitation of such properties. 

* Volume of foreclosures: While many of the city officials we spoke 
with indicated that the NSP program and funds had been very 
beneficial, the scale of the foreclosure problem in some areas is such 
that they are not able to get ahead of the growing numbers of 
foreclosures and vacancies solely through acquisition programs. Two 
representatives from community development organizations noted 
instances where they were able purchase and renovate vacant properties 
on a block, but by the time those properties were ready to be put on 
the market for sale, additional properties on those blocks had become 
vacant, thus reducing the value and demand for the renovated 
properties. Furthermore, ongoing vacancies threaten the stability of 
neighborhoods since the declining values and board-ups make the area 
less attractive for current residents, potentially leading to further 
abandonment and decline. For example, on a tour of a Chicago 
neighborhood, we saw recently rehabilitated homes that were next door 
to or across the street from recent foreclosures, devaluing the worth 
the redeveloped properties, according to representatives of a 
community organization working in the neighborhood (see figure 13). 

Figure 13: Vacant Properties Near Recently Rehabilitated Homes in 
Chicago, as of 2011: 

[Refer to PDF for image: 2 photographs] 

Newly rehabilitated multifamily property (left) across the street from 
vacant and boarded-up homes (right). According to representatives from 
a Chicago community development organization, the vacant homes were 
constructed in the mid-2000s but were never sold due to the housing 
crisis. They have been vacant for approximately 5 years, and 
contribute to decreased value in the neighboring properties, including 
the recently rehabilitated property across the street. 

Source: GAO. 

[End of figure] 

Another challenge to acquisition and rehabilitation efforts is a lack 
of ready and willing buyers, so some communities have established 
special entities--known as land banks--to acquire and hold properties 
for later development. Finding sufficient buyers for rehabilitated 
homes can be very difficult, especially in markets with older housing 
stock and declining populations, such as Baltimore, Detroit, and 
Cleveland. In current economic conditions, fewer buyers qualify for 
financing, and even those that do may not be willing to make purchases 
now as the housing market has remained weak. Therefore, several 
jurisdictions work with or have established a land bank--typically a 
separate governmental or quasi-public entity--to acquire vacant, 
abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties for longer periods and then 
convert them to productive uses, including those other than housing, 
such as parks or other green spaces. Land banks acquire foreclosed 
properties held by banks, by the GSEs, or by federal and state 
agencies. For example, the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization 
Corporation (commonly known as the Cuyahoga Land Bank) has an 
agreement with Fannie Mae in which the land bank receives all of 
Fannie Mae's low-value properties--those appraised under $25,000--for 
$1, and Fannie Mae contributes approximately $3,500 per property 
toward demolition costs. A similar deal was struck with HUD, in which 
HUD agreed to give the land bank a right of first refusal on the 
lowest-value properties it disposes of. Currently the Cuyahoga Land 
Bank representatives said that the land bank receives 300 to 400 
properties per year from both Fannie Mae and HUD. Land banks also can 
acquire real estate lost to tax foreclosure and may accept donated 
properties. For example, two large servicers recently established 
agreements with the Cuyahoga Land Bank to donate low-value properties 
and contribute funds toward demolition. 

In communities where properties are too damaged or too low-value to be 
sold or rented, land banks can provide a system that enables a 
strategic assessment of what to do with vacant and abandoned 
properties and how to deal with the carrying costs of these 
activities. Properties that end up in a land bank may be ones that 
have deteriorated and may have title issues and delinquent taxes, so 
the interested buyers may be speculative investors interested in 
quickly reselling the property at a profit.[Footnote 69] Land banks 
can break the cycle of properties moving from one investor to another 
who are not maintaining or improving the properties. According to a 
former city official in Indianapolis, land banks also facilitate 
partnerships between a city and nonprofit organizations. Once a 
community development corporation (CDC) decides to work in a 
neighborhood, it might not have enough funds to acquire a large number 
of properties, and it may be working in competition with speculative 
investors for properties. The land bank can hold properties, assuming 
the risks associated with land ownership, until CDCs have secured 
funding and are ready to proceed with redevelopment efforts. Likewise, 
industry experts, as well as officials and community group 
representatives we spoke with noted that a primary benefit of a land 
bank is that it can hold properties until the local market recovers. 
Lastly, land banks can help stabilize a neighborhood from further 
decline by either maintaining homes adequately for future development 
or demolishing properties as quickly as possible and tapping into 
other potential uses, such as urban gardens, parks, and other green 
spaces. For example, in Cleveland, a local faith-based organization 
paid for the demolition of an abandoned, foreclosed home on a lot next 
to its playground. The lot, owned by the Cuyahoga County Land Bank, 
was then donated to the organization, which planned to invest $25,000 
to develop it as a green space and fill it with an amphitheater and 
native plants. A recent study about the land bank in Genesee County, 
Michigan, (discussed earlier in this report) showed that homes near 
vacant lots that had been created by the demolition of vacant 
properties increased in value.[Footnote 70] Similarly, another study 
of distressed housing in Cuyahoga County estimated that, given an 
average demolition cost of $7,500, demolishing 2,000 homes that are 
foreclosed and vacant, tax delinquent, or all three, would net $12 
million in value, benefiting sellers of nearby homes and the county's 
real property tax base.[Footnote 71] 

Land banks are not without their challenges, however. First, it could 
take time to successfully establish a land bank. According to a former 
land bank official in Indianapolis, land banks do not generate much 
revenue or make significant impacts overnight, and it takes a few 
years to establish a successful program. In some cases, localities may 
need to be granted the authority to begin a land bank by their state's 
legislature, and passage of such legislation takes time, especially in 
states with part-time legislators. Second, land bank officials and 
experts agree that securing long-term stable funding for a land bank 
is critical. The Cuyahoga Land Bank's primary funding comes from the 
county's revenues from penalties and interest on property taxes and 
assessments that are not paid when due. In contrast, the land bank in 
Indianapolis lacks an established and ongoing mechanism for receiving 
funds from tax revenues and instead has been funded by proceeds from 
liens and fines, CDBG, and NSP. Finally, some city officials expressed 
concerns about another entity--be it the county or a separate quasi-
governmental agency--having control over land within its boundaries. 

Laws, Local Ordinances and Dedicated Housing Courts Intended to 
Increase Accountability for Vacant Properties: 

City governments use housing and building codes, and related 
enforcement to oversee the safety of properties within their 
jurisdictions. With the increase of vacant properties in many 
communities, local governments are passing stronger property 
maintenance requirements and property registration ordinances aimed at 
increasing the responsibility of servicers to maintain properties 
during the foreclosure process. Similarly, two states, New Jersey and 
New York, recently passed laws requiring servicers to maintain 
properties in the foreclosure process. In addition, some jurisdictions 
have also established special housing courts to increase compliance 
with local building codes and property maintenance laws. Finally, some 
advocates and others have suggested that the costs of maintaining 
properties should be formally imposed on servicers, although the 
feasibility of such an approach is unknown, and it may have unintended 
consequences if implemented. 

Code Enforcement and Liens: 

Municipal housing and buildings department inspectors examine 
properties for compliance with local code requirements either during 
routine inspections or when they receive a complaint about a derelict 
or vacant property. If the property is in violation of the required 
standards, the enforcement agency issues a notice to the property 
owner and other responsible parties that lists the specific code 
violations or the nuisance conditions. According to a national 
community-building organization, code enforcement departments work on 
a complaint-driven basis, although some have designed more systematic 
inspection programs that target certain neighborhoods or violations 
with fines. For example, officials in Cleveland have established a 
code-enforcement partnership with local CDCs in which the CDCs help 
survey properties in each of the city's 19 wards and prioritize 
enforcement needs. Through this cooperative effort, the inspection 
program will cover the entire city for the first time, over a 3-year 
period. Although the program is in early stages, its goal is to 
leverage the resources and neighborhood-level knowledge offered by the 
community organizations in order to prioritize properties in need of 
maintenance, condemnation, or demolition. Other city officials told us 
they file priority liens--which are claims on the property that must 
be paid before any monies owed to other lienholders are paid in the 
event of foreclosure--or other monetary penalties, which can be 
substantial and escalate over time.[Footnote 72] For example, Las 
Vegas code enforcement officials told us that if they are unable to 
locate the servicer and they determine the property is vacant, they 
hire a contractor to perform the necessary maintenance and secure the 
property as needed at the city's expense. The code enforcement 
officials then appear before the Las Vegas city council and obtain a 
lien for the amount of the abatement. The council can charge the 
servicer up to $500 per day in civil penalties, although past 
responsiveness of a servicer is taken into account when the council 
determines the total amount of fines due. Officials in some cities we 
spoke with said higher fines have resulted in more responsiveness from 
servicers. However, another city has moved in the opposite direction, 
away from liens and fines. For example, the city of Cape Coral enacted 
a lien-forgiveness policy, which forgives outstanding liens as long as 
the property comes into compliance with city building codes. Officials 
stated that if the city keeps the liens in place, the properties would 
be unmarketable given market-wide declines in property values. We 
heard similar views from a local official and an industry 
representative, who said that accumulated fines and related liens can 
complicate the eventual resale of property by encumbering the title. 
Similarly, in our past work, we found that heavy fines on already low-
value properties may encourage servicers to abandon foreclosure, 
leaving the property vacant with no party responsible.[Footnote 73] 

Some we spoke with expressed a concern that cities' enforcement 
efforts often have a "one size fits all" approach that does not reward 
those servicers who are cooperative and responsive to city demands. 
Currently, the greatest challenge to effective code enforcement in 
most communities is a lack of resources, according to local officials. 
As discussed earlier, officials we spoke with in several cities noted 
that they have recently experienced staff cuts in their code 
enforcement departments, and a shortage of inspectors can make code 
enforcement difficult. As discussed earlier in this report, officials 
in Cape Coral have recruited local volunteers to help with property 
maintenance, such as mowing overgrown lawns, while Cleveland officials 
are working with local community development corporations in an effort 
to expand available "eyes on the ground." Furthermore, code 
enforcement officials told us locating the owners or current mortgage 
lien holders of abandoned foreclosures takes time and money. 

Vacant Property Registration Requirements and Maintenance Laws: 

Another action that some local governments are taking is to require 
servicers to register vacant properties. As previously discussed, one 
of the major challenges confronting code enforcement officials is 
identifying who is responsible for maintaining vacant properties. 
Vacant property registration requirements attempt to address this 
problem by requiring servicers to provide the city with specific 
contact information for each vacant property they service. According 
to a national firm that contracts with servicers to maintain 
properties, 439 jurisdictions have enacted vacant property 
registration ordinances as of September 2011. Although the 
requirements of these ordinances vary, researchers generally classify 
them into two types. The first type tracks all vacant and abandoned 
properties and their owners (regardless of whether or not there is a 
foreclosure action) by requiring the owner to provide the municipality 
with specific contact information. Among the cities we studied, 
Baltimore has implemented this type of registration requirement. In 
addition to requiring registration, some local governments have 
ordinances that also attempt to hold the lender or servicer 
responsible for maintenance of vacant properties during the 
foreclosure process. The cities of Cape Coral, Indio, and Chicago, for 
example, have implemented this second type of ordinance. Cities often 
impose a registration fee along with the requirement. In July 2011, 
Chicago's City Council passed an amendment to its vacant property 
registration and maintenance ordinance, expanding the definition of 
"owner" to include any entity holding a mortgage on the property. 
[Footnote 74] The amended ordinance required servicers to pay for 
maintenance and upkeep on vacant properties before officially taking 
title through a foreclosure sale. Representatives from servicers and 
the GSEs, have expressed concern that the Chicago ordinance went too 
far in assigning responsibilities to servicers prior to the completion 
of the foreclosure because, as previously discussed, servicers are 
concerned about legal liability when conducting work on properties 
during this period. Specifically, representatives from one servicer 
said the law held the mortgagee responsible for a vacant property 
before foreclosure is initiated, or even if the customer is current on 
the loan. In October 2011, a committee of the Chicago City Council 
recommended removing the language more broadly defining "owner" from 
the ordinance. 

The states of New Jersey and New York have enacted statewide 
requirements that give cities the authority to hold servicers 
responsible for maintenance of vacant properties during the 
foreclosure process.[Footnote 75] New Jersey's law requires, among 
other things, that all servicers notify the clerk of the municipality 
in which the property is located each time they initiate a foreclosure 
proceeding on a residential property. That way, each municipality can 
create a database of all residential properties in foreclosure in the 
community. In the absence of these new notification requirements, 
servicers were only required to initiate a foreclosure action by 
filing at a central location in the state capitol, according to a 
senior state official responsible for compiling these notices. This 
official also said it would have been difficult for municipalities to 
track foreclosure filings on properties in their localities using the 
information filed with the state. The notices must contain contact 
information for an entity responsible for receiving complaints about 
property maintenance and code violations. If at any point after the 
foreclosure proceeding has begun the local government finds that the 
property has been abandoned by its owner, maintenance of the property 
would then become the responsibility of the servicer or other 
creditors. Similarly, the New York law requires, among other things, 
that servicers maintain abandoned properties until ownership is 
transferred after foreclosure. However, that responsibility begins at 
the point of foreclosure judgment when a judge grants a servicer the 
right to hold a foreclosure sale, which occurs anywhere from 8 to 14 
months after initiation of foreclosure in New York, according to a 
nonprofit association of mortgage banking law firms. Although the New 
York law (like New Jersey's) authorizes municipalities to enforce the 
law against servicers that fail to maintain an abandoned property 
prior to a foreclosure sale, it does not require servicers to provide 
notification to local governments. Local housing and code compliance 
officials in Rochester, Buffalo, and New York City told us that absent 
such a notification requirement, they are not able to systematically 
monitor the issuance of foreclosure judgments. 

The contact information in vacant property registration systems can 
make it easier for local code enforcement officials to identify the 
parties responsible for abandoned foreclosures and to hold mortgage 
owners accountable for vacant properties, reducing the negative impact 
of these properties on the community. For example, local officials we 
interviewed in one city with a vacant property registry said that more 
owners are complying with their city's registry requirements due to 
increased fines and noted that the registry had been effective at 
providing contacts for officials to call to resolve code violations on 
vacant properties. Officials we spoke with in another city noted that 
because their ordinance requires certain levels of maintenance on 
properties, servicers have the needed incentive to keep up vacant 
properties to avoid incurring additional costs. They also said that 
servicers have been more cooperative and responsive since the 
registration and maintenance ordinances were passed. In addition, the 
fees generated by the registration requirements can help fund cities' 
code enforcement programs. 

While vacant property registration systems can help local governments 
identify some owners, they might not capture all owners. Furthermore, 
local officials and industry representatives told us that cities lack 
adequate code enforcement and inspection staff to enforce fully the 
registration and maintenance requirements. For example, buildings 
department staff in Chicago noted that they do not check to see if a 
vacant property has been registered unless they are inspecting it 
already due to complaints. Several representatives from those cities 
in our study that do not have a registration system said there has 
been some local interest in starting one but cited lack of resources 
and staff as key impediments. Officials from the Las Vegas area said a 
strong local culture of property rights makes establishing a 
registration system politically infeasible. Representatives of 
mortgage servicers told us that it can be burdensome and costly to 
track and comply with the various standards and systems at the local 
level. Further, as previously discussed, servicers and other industry 
representatives we spoke to believe servicers' authority to perform 
work on properties they did not yet own was limited during the 
foreclosure process. At the same time, most of the servicers we 
interviewed told us they do their best to meet local requirements and 
register vacant properties as required. 

Housing Courts: 

A few jurisdictions across the country have established special 
housing courts devoted to building safety and code enforcement cases. 
Housing courts can devote their exclusive attention to complex cases 
involving substandard housing and abandoned buildings brought by the 
city prosecutor. For example, in Cleveland, the housing court includes 
10 housing specialists who work, at the judge's direction, with 
property owners to correct the violations on their properties. 
According to the housing judge in Cleveland, the benefit of a 
specialized court is that he and his staff develop expertise in 
necessary areas, such as requirements related to ownership and 
transfer of title. Before Cleveland had a housing court, these cases 
rotated among 12 other judges in the municipal court; each judge may 
have used a different approach, and cases sometimes languished on 
their dockets. In contrast, the judge for the housing court has been 
able to develop specific approaches to common problems regarding 
property maintenance and disposition. Similarly, a Chicago judge we 
spoke with told us his focused work in the housing court has given him 
expertise on all available options in the local market, and this 
knowledge of the history of the entities and properties involved helps 
him make decisions about what is the best action based on the unique 
circumstances of each property. For example, he might assign a 
receiver for a relatively well-maintained multifamily property in a 
stable neighborhood because that property is worth preserving, but he 
would likely order a deteriorated wood frame house in a neighborhood 
that has a lot of other vacancies to be demolished. 

Another potential benefit of a housing court could be to expedite 
foreclosures on vacant properties. For example, the Chicago housing 
court is implementing a new plan for properties that are vacant, and 
for which the homeowner cannot be located. The judge would review the 
case and if provided with sufficient evidence that the owner cannot be 
located and has vacated the property, a judgment for foreclosure will 
be granted. These foreclosure cases would then proceed through the 
housing court rather than the general chancery court, where 
foreclosures are currently taking 18 to 24 months to complete, 
according to the Chicago housing judge we spoke with for this report. 
The goal of the program is to complete the foreclosure for these 
vacant properties in as little as 9 months, which would allow the 
servicer to transfer the property to an owner or entity more likely to 
preserve it, avoiding further vacancy and deterioration of the 
property. GSE representatives support the idea of expedited 
foreclosure, although they caution that the process for certifying 
that a property is vacant should not be onerous. In Colorado, a state 
law enacted in 2010 allows for an accelerated foreclosure process if a 
court is presented with evidence that a property is vacant. However, 
according to an attorney with a large Colorado law firm that 
represents most of the servicers in the state, Colorado's law has only 
been used in a small number of foreclosures because servicer 
representatives feel that the vacancy certification process enumerated 
in the law, which requires at least two different types of proof of 
vacancy such as multiple broken windows and boarded-up doors, is 
cumbersome.[Footnote 76] 

However, while a housing court can provide resources and expertise to 
resolve vacant property cases, in some cases, establishing such a 
court may require legislation, as well as substantial resource 
investment.[Footnote 77] Even with a well-staffed and dedicated 
housing court, judicial proceedings still can be lengthy and costly, 
and depending on the responsiveness of the responsible party, 
vacancies and neglect may still persist. Due to lengthy court 
timelines, officials in Baltimore have begun a new approach to code 
enforcement that is intended to avoid litigation in most cases. In the 
past, litigation was required in every instance where a vacant 
building owner was noncompliant. Now Baltimore code enforcement 
officers can issue $900 citations (similar to parking tickets) so that 
the city goes to court only in cases of repeated offenses. 

Servicer Accountability for Vacant Property Costs: 

Academics and advocates have suggested that another strategy for 
increasing servicer accountability and preventing negative impacts 
from vacancies is to have servicers acknowledge and account for the 
costs that vacant foreclosed properties bring to communities in the 
tools they use to help them make decisions about modifying a loan or 
foreclosing on it. These tools are financial models and calculations 
that generally use information about the borrower and the property to 
compare the expected financial benefit of taking one action over 
another. For example, the models servicers use to help them determine 
whether to offer a borrower a loan modification include factors such 
as the borrower's income and monthly expenses, such as mortgage and 
insurance payments, as well as the location and value of the property 
to assess whether the expected cash flow for a modified loan is higher 
than the expected cash flow for no loan modification. If the result of 
this calculation is negative, then it generally is not financially 
beneficial for the servicer to modify the loan.[Footnote 78] 
Similarly, foreclosure decision-making models include factors such as 
projected property maintenance costs, the duration of the foreclosure 
process, expected time to resell the property, and the value of the 
property. If this calculation indicates that the projected proceeds 
from the eventual sale of the property exceed the projected costs by a 
certain amount, the servicer will proceed with foreclosure. According 
to some servicer representatives we interviewed, they do not 
explicitly take into account the costs that vacant foreclosed 
properties bring to communities in the models they use to help them 
decide whether to offer a loan modification to a borrower or to 
analyze whether foreclosure would be financially beneficial. One way 
this could be done is by requiring servicers to include vacant 
property costs to local governments--such as for police and fire 
services--in their models. 

A few industry participants and observers said that adding costs 
related to vacant properties into the decision-making models may 
encourage servicers to decide to conduct more loan modifications. 
Because maintaining a vacant property throughout foreclosure could be 
more costly under this proposal, loan modifications might seem more 
cost-effective. Local officials told us that the high volume of 
continuing foreclosures makes it difficult to manage the resulting 
vacant properties. If more borrowers were approved for loan 
modifications, they would remain in their homes and prevent them from 
deteriorating; thus, localities would not have to expend as many 
resources on maintenance of vacant foreclosed properties. According to 
one study, any cost savings the city experiences could be used toward 
other local efforts to prevent foreclosures, among other things. 
Academics who support having servicers account for vacant property 
costs often being borne by communities indicated that doing so would 
help all parties in the mortgage transaction understand the cost of 
these properties to local governments and ensure that each either pays 
a share or takes actions to reduce these costs. 

However, servicers, academics, and other industry stakeholders said 
that administering this proposal would be difficult. Determining the 
appropriate amount to add to the decision-making models to account for 
the community costs could be challenging, in part because of a lack of 
consistent data and the variation in local circumstances and property 
conditions. Some cities may have data that could be used to calculate 
the costs of vacant properties to the city. For example, a 2009 study 
used data from four city departments in Baltimore to calculate the 
cost of police and fire services associated with vacant 
properties.[Footnote 79] In addition, local officials in Chicago told 
us that they have a database that tracks property information such as 
building violations and court proceedings and flags properties that 
have been identified as vacant. They said that the police and fire 
departments also track their costs related to vacant properties. 
However, many localities do not routinely track which costs are 
related to vacant properties. In addition, data about these costs 
could be difficult to obtain because it comes from a variety of 
sources within a city, including legal offices, public works, housing, 
police, fire, building inspection, and code enforcement. Determining 
the appropriate amount to add to decision-making models to account for 
these costs is further complicated by the variation in what these 
costs may be across jurisdictions. Although a few studies have 
calculated the cost of vacant properties to particular cities, these 
estimates cannot be applied to all jurisdictions because local housing 
market and property conditions vary. For example, according to one 
study, the effects of vacant properties on neighborhoods vary widely 
among regions and within specific areas of a region.[Footnote 80] 

In addition, stakeholders were uncertain if this proposal would be 
effective and said it could have unintended consequences. According to 
some servicer representatives, explicitly adding additional costs to 
decision-making models might not be effective at increasing loan 
modifications because borrowers can be denied for modifications for a 
number of reasons other than the decision-making model indicating that 
it is not financially beneficial to modify the loan. Our analysis of 
Treasury data from December 2010 shows that only 6 percent of denials 
for loan modifications through HAMP as of that date were due to the 
results of the decision-making model.[Footnote 81] More common causes 
of denials for HAMP loan modifications were because borrowers' 
documentation was incomplete, the property was not owner-occupied, or 
the mortgage itself was ineligible.[Footnote 82] According to 
representatives from a few servicers, including additional costs might 
increase the number of modifications, but the borrowers might default 
again because they still do not have the ability to pay. Therefore, 
the proposal might not have the intended effect of preventing 
foreclosures and keeping homes occupied. Another reason servicers said 
the proposal might not effectively increase modifications is that 
their models already address some of the costs of vacant properties. 
Foreclosed properties generally sell for a lower price than other 
properties, so servicers reduce the amount they expect to earn from 
selling the property in their calculations. Thus, they said that the 
amount that property values have declined as a result of foreclosure 
is already a factor that they consider and that altering the decision-
making model may not result in many additional loan modifications. 
Several servicers also said that they account for any factors the 
model might miss by approving borrowers who are within a certain 
threshold even if the model indicates that it would not be financially 
beneficial to modify the loan. Similarly, Treasury officials noted 
that the incentives investors receive for participating in HAMP may 
tip the calculation toward modification, which somewhat addresses the 
costs to communities. Finally, servicer representatives and other 
industry observers said that adding to the costs of foreclosure could 
have the unintended consequence of causing servicers to abandon more 
foreclosures--that is, deciding not to foreclose on a loan and walking 
away from the properties. It could also increase the cost of 
servicing, which might impact costs to consumers or banks' lending 
decisions in areas where the foreclosure costs were high. 

Local Officials Have Concerns about Decreased Federal Funding and Want 
Increased Attention to Servicers' Role in Vacant Property Problem: 

As discussed earlier, local governments currently are experiencing 
fiscal strain, and local officials told us federal funds help them 
address the costs of vacant properties, but they are concerned that 
continuing their efforts will be difficult as some programs expire, 
and cuts are made in others. In particular, local officials said they 
needed funds they could use for demolition and increasing the capacity 
of their code enforcement departments. Although the federal funds they 
receive assist in these efforts, as discussed earlier, officials in 
Baltimore, Detroit, and Chicago stated that the resources required to 
demolish the large number of unsafe and unattended vacant properties 
in those cities exceeds local and state budgets and federal funds. 
Local officials we interviewed recognized the importance of NSP 
funding in combating the problems of vacant properties. They said that 
this program provided much needed funds for demolition, and one 
official noted that it allowed the city to undertake neighborhood 
revitalization projects that it would not have otherwise been able to 
do, and provided leverage for attracting other sources of funding and 
development in targeted areas. Officials in two localities also 
reported that the technical assistance they received from HUD helped 
fill gaps in their capacity to develop systems to implement NSP 
projects.[Footnote 83] However, this funding is coming to an end--
funds from the latest round of NSP grants were required to be 
obligated for specific projects by March 2010--and local officials 
noted that it was not enough to address the scale of the vacant 
property problems in their areas. For example, officials in Las Vegas 
and the surrounding area told us they were able to acquire a few 
hundred properties with NSP funds, as of June 2011, but this number 
was not enough to stabilize the neighborhoods. According to 2010 
Census data, Las Vegas has almost 29,000 nonseasonal vacant properties. 

In addition, local officials noted that the ability to make funding 
decisions locally and the flexible nature of CDBG funds from HUD were 
essential to their housing programs, and that reductions in this 
funding would be difficult to manage. Communities can use CDBG funds 
for a variety of uses, including acquisition, administration and 
planning, economic development, and housing activities. For example, 
local officials in the communities we studied said that they use CDBG 
funding for, among other things, providing grants to homeowners to 
help them repair properties (Tuscon and Indianapolis), demolition 
(Detroit and Cleveland), enhancing code enforcement (Cleveland), and 
community outreach (Chicago). After budget increases in the last few 
years, and supplemental CDBG funding through the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009, total CDBG funding was reduced by 21 percent 
in 2011 compared with 2010 funding levels.[Footnote 84] The proposed 
2012 budget made further reductions of 7.5 percent, or $300 million, 
relative to current funding levels in order to meet the President's 
goal of reducing spending across agencies. Local officials and 
community group representatives from several cities said that this 
reduction in CDBG funding would make continuing their CDBG-funded 
programs difficult. With sustained high foreclosure and unemployment 
rates and further declining home values, local officials said that 
continued, flexible CDBG funding would help them maintain efforts to 
address vacant properties in their areas. 

Local officials and representatives of community organizations also 
emphasized that more pressure from regulators on servicers to modify 
loans was needed. In particular, some local officials said that 
regulators could do more to encourage servicers to modify loans by 
reducing the principal that the borrower owes. Further, officials in 
the Las Vegas area noted that HAMP does not address the challenges 
facing many borrowers in the area who owe more on their homes than 
they are worth. When a borrower owes more on the mortgage than the 
house is currently worth, the affordability of monthly payments may 
not be the only consideration in the borrower's decision to stay in 
the house. We have previously reported that HAMP, which makes 
borrowers' monthly payments affordable by reducing them to the target 
of 31 percent of their gross household incomes, does not focus 
directly on the issue of negative equity that is experienced by a 
large and growing segment of borrowers (so called "underwater" 
borrowers).[Footnote 85] Local officials noted that effectively 
stabilizing neighborhoods while further foreclosures are occurring and 
more properties are becoming vacant is difficult. They maintain that 
more pressure on servicers to modify loans could prevent additional 
foreclosures and vacancies. This, in turn, could allow local efforts 
to stabilize neighborhoods to make more of an impact. In response, 
banking regulators said that they encourage institutions under their 
jurisdiction to work with borrowers to modify loans when feasible. In 
addition, Treasury officials said that they adjusted servicers' HAMP 
incentive payments to encourage them to begin working with borrowers 
on modifications early in delinquency. 

Local officials also said that federal regulators could do more to 
enforce servicers' responsibilities for maintaining vacant foreclosed 
properties, such as by holding them accountable for complying with 
local property maintenance codes and responding to code violations. 
Local officials we spoke with in most of the cities we studied also 
expressed frustration with obtaining servicers' cooperation in 
addressing code violations on vacant properties for which they are 
responsible. For example, one official said that local efforts to 
enforce servicers' responsibilities to maintain certain properties 
were not always effective. Part of these difficulties could be due to 
challenges in locating property owners and mortgage lien holders 
responsible for vacant properties. They noted that identifying the 
responsible party even after foreclosure is completed can be difficult 
because of delays or failures in recording changes in ownership with 
local jurisdictions. The servicers and property maintenance company we 
spoke with maintain that they have made improvements in communicating 
with local officials by setting up specialized hot lines, dedicating 
staff to responding to local issues, or placing notifications on 
properties with correct contact information in the event of problems. 
However, a couple of representatives also acknowledged that is an 
ongoing process. In response to local officials' calls for regulators 
to enforce servicers' compliance with local laws, regulatory staff 
said that compliance with local laws is expected and examiners would 
review whether the institution has systems or controls in place to 
manage compliance with local laws when circumstances warranted but 
typically do not enforce compliance in individual cases. For example, 
OCC representatives said that they do not have the resources or 
expertise on all the variations of local laws to review and enforce 
such compliance in every case. 

Federal Agencies Have Recently Increased Attention to Mortgage 
Servicing Activities in Their Oversight: 

Oversight of mortgage servicers' activities regarding loans in 
foreclosure has not always been a major focus among federal banking 
regulators, although they have recently increased their attention to 
this area. As part of overseeing the safety and soundness of banks, 
the banking regulators have developed a variety of guidance that 
outlines expectations for banks to follow in their lending practices, 
loan management, and other activities, and examiners primarily 
structure their reviews to address the areas considered to pose a high 
risk of financial loss for the institutions. Federal regulatory 
guidance and examinations address institutions' overall policies for 
managing loans, not necessarily actions to take on individual 
properties. For example, the federal banking regulators have developed 
uniform standards that require depository institutions to establish 
and maintain comprehensive, written real estate lending policies that 
are consistent with safe and sound banking practices.[Footnote 86] 
These policies must address certain lending considerations and loan 
administration procedures, such as inspections to monitor the 
condition of properties that serve as collateral for delinquent loans 
going into foreclosure and compliance with relevant local laws and 
servicing agreements, among other requirements. However, these 
standards do not require specific property maintenance activities. In 
addition, interagency guidelines for safety and soundness state that 
institutions should establish and maintain a system to identify 
problem assets, prevent their deterioration, and better ensure 
sufficient resources to absorb estimated losses, but the guidelines do 
not provide specific requirements for property maintenance.[Footnote 
87] Similarly, the extent to which bank regulators have examined 
servicing activities such as the foreclosure process has been limited 
because these practices generally were not considered to pose a high 
risk to the safety and soundness of the institutions and were not 
raised as an area of potential concern in consumer 
complaints.[Footnote 88] For example, regarding loans in the 
foreclosure process, regulatory officials said they expect servicers 
to work with borrowers to modify loans where feasible and comply with 
local laws, such as those related to registration of vacant 
properties. They also generally noted that examiners might review 
institutions' policies for following local laws and managing and 
valuing losses for the loans but would not typically review which 
actions servicers had taken on individual properties. 

Once foreclosure is completed on a loan, federal regulatory guidance 
and examinations generally focus on servicers' appropriate valuation 
of any properties acquired through foreclosure and their activities to 
market and sell them within specified time frames. Generally, federal 
regulations allow national banks to hold these REO properties in their 
inventory for 5 years, but they may be able to get extensions for up 
to an additional 5 years.[Footnote 89] According to regulatory 
guidance and agency staff, examiners review whether institutions are 
actively marketing foreclosed properties during this time period and 
appropriately accounting for the value of these properties. However, 
federal regulatory staff indicated that not much oversight is done 
specifically related to maintenance of vacant foreclosed properties. 

Recently, banking regulators have considered the potential risks that 
mortgage servicing activities can pose to institutions and taken more 
actions regarding oversight of servicing, some of which may relate to 
maintenance of vacant properties, such as the following: 

* OCC staff indicated that they have developed new guidance for banks 
and examiners that includes potential requirements and actions related 
to foreclosed properties. Once issued, OCC staff said that the 
guidance will reinforce expectations for banks to consider the legal, 
safety and soundness, and community impacts of foreclosed properties 
in their policies and procedures. As of October 2011, the guidance was 
not yet finalized, but was expected to be issued soon. 

* Federal banking regulators conducted specific reviews of certain 
servicers' foreclosure activities in response to the foreclosure 
process deficiencies that various mortgage servicers publicly 
announced beginning in September 2010. These reviews revealed severe 
deficiencies with the servicers' document preparation and oversight of 
their internal foreclosure processes.[Footnote 90] Regulators issued 
formal enforcement orders to these servicers, requiring them to take 
corrective actions and assess the compliance, legal, and reputational 
risks in their servicing operations, which include the risks of 
deficiencies in foreclosure activity and assisting delinquent 
borrowers to remain in their homes. OCC and Federal Reserve staff said 
that they are reviewing these assessments and expect servicers to 
consider legal or liability risks of vacant and abandoned REO 
properties in these assessments. In addition, we previously reported 
that regulatory staff will substantially revise their supervisory 
strategy to assess servicer compliance with the enforcement orders and 
implementation of corrective actions.[Footnote 91] 

* In September 2010, the Federal Reserve developed draft exam 
guidelines that examiners may follow that include a question on 
whether servicers have policies and procedures in place to address 
abandoned or otherwise neglected collateral properties. Federal 
Reserve staff said that consumer compliance examiners are testing and 
revising these guidelines during exams of loan modifications that were 
scheduled this year and have found that institutions examined so far 
generally have specific policies for such properties that they follow, 
although in a few instances examiners instructed institutions to 
revise their policies to make them more specific. 

* FDIC issued guidance in 2008 reminding the institutions it oversees 
of the importance of properly maintaining foreclosed properties in 
anticipation of an increase in foreclosures due to the 2007 economic 
crisis. The guidance notes that institutions' policies and procedures 
related to acquiring, holding, and disposing of properties acquired 
through foreclosure should ensure that their interests are protected 
while mitigating the impact on the value of surrounding properties. 
Specifically, this guidance states that properties should be 
maintained in a manner that complies with local property and fire 
codes and that efforts to maintain properties in marketable condition 
not only improve an institution's ability to obtain the best price for 
the property but also minimize liability and reputation risk. 

* Federal bank regulators, Treasury, HUD, and the Bureau of Consumer 
Financial Protection also are developing national servicing standards. 
Regulatory staff could not say whether issues related to the 
maintenance of vacant properties would be included in any final 
standards. However, they said that discussions so far have focused on 
consumers' interactions with servicers on their delinquent loans and 
avoiding foreclosure, not processes following foreclosure. 

In addition to federal banking regulators, FHA and the GSEs oversee 
various aspects of mortgage servicing and may penalize servicers if 
they do not comply with servicing guidelines. FHA, which oversees 
mortgage servicers that manage the home mortgage loans insured by that 
agency, uses a risk-based approach to monitor those institutions' 
compliance with program servicing guidelines, such as guidelines for 
maintaining properties. According to FHA staff, past servicer reviews 
have focused on monitoring compliance with requirements for assisting 
delinquent borrowers to remain in their homes by considering loan 
modifications, payment plans, or other options to avoid foreclosure. 
To provide incentives for servicers to maintain properties according 
to the agency's guidelines prior to transferring them to HUD following 
the foreclosure sale, the agency may deny or curtail insurance claims 
or reconvey a property if it does not meet certain conveyance 
requirements. As previously discussed, these properties are generally 
in compliance with local laws and ordinances, but HUD officials told 
us that the agency may exercise its discretion to use different 
methods than the locality requires. Representatives from the GSEs also 
reported that they conduct targeted reviews of servicers that focus on 
evaluating their processes and procedures. They said that they require 
servicers to follow servicing guidelines and proper legal procedures 
with respect to all aspects of their business operations as part of 
their contractual obligations with the GSEs. They also may pursue a 
variety of remedies, such as assessing fees or penalties on servicers, 
for failure to comply with the servicing guidelines, but said that 
they did not assess fees for maintenance-related issues. Instead, 
Fannie Mae officials said that, in cases of properties damaged because 
of the servicer's neglect, they may require the servicer to repurchase 
the property or reimburse Fannie Mae for any loss in the property's 
value. GSE representatives also noted that they train and routinely 
monitor the vendors that manage their REO properties to ensure that 
they comply with local laws and have third-party companies review 
their performance. 

FHFA and the GSEs also are evaluating future measures to improve 
mortgage servicing. At the direction of their regulator, FHFA, the 
GSEs are working together to align their guidelines to servicers to 
establish, among other things, consistent timelines and other 
requirements.[Footnote 92] In addition, FHFA, in consultation with 
Treasury and HUD, is seeking input for planning and market research 
purposes on new options for selling REO properties held by Fannie Mae, 
Freddie Mac, and FHA to reduce GSE and FHA losses on foreclosed 
properties and help stabilize neighborhoods. Options the agencies 
requested comments on include renting REO properties to previous 
homeowners or other parties or facilitating current tenants becoming 
owners. The notice stated that areas with a substantial number of REO 
properties and a strong rental market may begin to stabilize by 
turning a large number of REO properties into rental housing.[Footnote 
93] FHFA is in the process of reviewing comments on such alternatives, 
including their risks and any trade-offs involved. 

As part of the HAMP program, Treasury oversees participating 
servicers' compliance with their contractual obligations under the 
program. Treasury conducts compliance audits on all servicers that 
participate in the program according to a risk-based schedule. In 
addition, as a consequence of reported irregularities in the 
foreclosure process in September 2010, Treasury organized a review of 
the internal policies and procedures governing preforeclosure 
activities at the certain servicers and reiterated servicers' 
obligations to follow applicable state laws. Our previous work on HAMP 
has shown that Treasury had not finalized policies to hold servicers 
accountable for their performance, although Treasury has recently 
begun publishing assessments of the performance of the 10 largest 
servicers and, as of July 2011, is withholding incentive payments that 
servicers receive for making loan modifications from two servicers 
until they make substantial improvements in their programs.[Footnote 
94] Further, we have found that servicers were not always consistent 
in their treatment of borrowers applying for loan modifications. 
[Footnote 95] We have made a number of recommendations to Treasury to 
help ensure that borrowers are treated consistently and servicers are 
held accountable for their performance, which we will continue to 
monitor. 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

We requested comments on a draft of this report from the Federal 
Reserve, Census, HUD, Treasury, Fannie Mae, FDIC, FHFA, Freddie Mac, 
OCC, and USPS. We received technical comments from Census, Federal 
Reserve, FHFA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, OCC, and FHA, which we 
incorporated where appropriate. 

We received written comments from Treasury that are presented in 
appendix III. The Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability at the 
Department of the Treasury noted that the report is informative and 
helpful in describing the extent of vacant properties and their 
impacts. One of the strategies discussed in our report is requiring 
servicers to include vacant property costs to local governments--such 
as for police and fire services--into the models used to make loan 
modification or foreclosure decisions. The Assistant Secretary's 
letter acknowledges, as we noted in the report, that there are certain 
challenges associated with holding servicers accountable for such 
costs. The Assistant Secretary's letter also states that federal, 
state, and local agencies as well as community groups, investors, and 
servicers need to analyze appropriate responses to this issue. 

As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce the contents 
of this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days 
from the report date. At that time, we will send copies to the 
appropriate congressional committees, Census, Fannie Mae, FDIC, FHFA, 
Federal Reserve, Freddie Mac, HUD, OCC, Treasury, USPS, and other 
interested parties. In addition, the report will be available at no 
charge on the GAO website at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov]. 

If you or your staff members have any questions about this report, 
please contact me at (202) 512-8678 or sciremj@gao.gov. Contact points 
for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be 
found on the last page of this report. Key contributors to this report 
are listed in appendix IV. 

Sincerely yours, 

Signed by: 

Mathew J. Scirè: 
Director: 
Financial Markets and Community Investment: 

[End of section] 

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology: 

This report reviews the costs that foreclosed and unattended vacant 
homes create for local communities and the strategies state and local 
governments are using to address problems associated with unattended 
vacant properties. Specifically, this report addresses (1) trends in 
the number of vacant properties and how they relate to the recent 
increase in foreclosures; (2) the types of costs that vacant 
properties create and who bears the responsibility for these 
properties and their costs; and (3) state and local government 
strategies for addressing vacant properties and the federal role in 
assisting these efforts. 

To identify trends in the number of vacant properties and how they 
relate to the recent increase in foreclosures, we analyzed data on 
vacant residential housing units collected in the 2000 and 2010 
decennial censuses. In order to describe the extent of and change in 
housing vacancies across states and selected cities from 2000 through 
2010, we estimated the number of vacancies in 2000 and 2010 to show 
the trend in vacancies over the decade. We estimated the change in 
total vacancies and the number of vacancies as a percentage of the 
total housing stock between the two censuses. We excluded vacant units 
that Census categorized as for seasonal use or for use by migrant 
workers because we concluded that these properties, which are 
generally occupied for temporary periods, are likely to be maintained. 

We downloaded census data from Census 2000 and the 2010 Census from 
the Census Bureau's American FactFinder. These data contain the 
occupancy status of enumerated households and describe the reason for 
the vacancy. The vacancy status is defined as for rent or sale; for 
sale only; rented or sold, not occupied; for seasonal, recreational, 
or occasional use; for migrant workers; and other vacant. 

In addition, we analyzed data compiled from the U.S. Postal Service 
(USPS) on vacant addresses as of the second quarter of 2010 to compare 
it with Census 2010 data on vacant properties, as a check on Census 
data as well as to highlight any interesting characteristics that the 
Census data may not identify. We tabulated the total number of 
residential vacant addresses at national and state levels, subtracting 
out seasonal addresses, and calculated the percentage difference for 
each state and the average difference. We did not report the results 
of the comparison because of the differences in methodology and 
definitions between the two sets of data. We did report our comparison 
of the 10 states with the largest number of vacant addresses according 
to USPS second quarter 2010 data and the 10 states with the largest 
number of nonseasonal residential vacant units according to Census 
2010 data. 

Users of the report should note that accurately measuring the number 
of vacant properties is difficult and that available data all have 
limitations. The primary difficulty is identifying whether a property 
is actually vacant, which generally is done through physical 
inspection of property exteriors, information from neighbors, or 
reviews of public utility usage or billing records. No comprehensive 
data are available about the duration that properties are vacant. As a 
result, measurements of vacant properties should be viewed as general 
indicators of the scale of the problem as of the point in time the 
given survey was taken. In light of these limitations, we assessed the 
reliability of the Census and USPS data by reviewing past GAO and 
other assessments of the data and interviewing knowledgeable Census 
and USPS officials about their data integrity measures.[Footnote 96] 
We determined that these data were sufficiently reliable for use in 
the report. 

To identify the factors that contributed to the increase in vacant 
properties over the last decade, we evaluated data on foreclosures, 
unemployment, and population. Specifically, we analyzed data on 
foreclosure inventory by state as of the end of 2010 from the Mortgage 
Bankers Association National Delinquency Survey. In a previous report 
released earlier this year, we assessed the reliability of these same 
data by reviewing existing information about the quality of the data, 
a previous GAO data reliability assessment that included performing 
electronic testing to detect errors in completeness and 
reasonableness, and interviewing Mortgage Bankers Association 
officials knowledgeable about the data to confirm that the data 
collection methodology had not changed since our earlier review. 
[Footnote 97] We determined that the data were sufficiently reliable 
for purposes of the report. We obtained data on unemployment and 
population from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census. The federal 
statistical agencies of the U.S. government follow the standards and 
guidelines for statistical surveys set forth by the Office of 
Management and Budget. These standards and guidelines governing 
federal statistical agencies are intended to help ensure that their 
surveys and studies are designed to produce reliable data as 
efficiently as possible and that their methods are documented and 
results presented in a manner that makes the data as accessible and 
useful as possible. In addition, we reviewed literature on the effects 
of foreclosures and vacant properties on property values. We also 
interviewed local government and nongovernmental officials about the 
factors contributing to properties becoming vacant in their areas. To 
further corroborate the association between increases in the number of 
vacant housing units categorized as "other vacant" between the 2000 
and 2010 censuses, and areas of economic distress, we analyzed data 
from the Census American Community Survey (ACS) for the period 2005 
through 2009 on the percentage of households in a given census tract 
with annual income below the appropriate poverty threshold for that 
household size and composition as defined by the Census Bureau. 
[Footnote 98] We used the ACS data because 2010 poverty data was not 
yet available at the time we undertook this analysis. ACS data at the 
tract level can be unreliable for reporting for some tracts but the 
data were sufficiently reliable for the type of aggregate analysis we 
conducted. 

To understand the costs that mortgage servicers and lien holders bear 
to maintain vacant properties during and after foreclosure, we 
analyzed data on property maintenance costs from two housing-related 
government-sponsored enterprises (GSE)--Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--
and HUD's Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Specifically, we 
obtained data on the funds the GSEs and FHA reimbursed to servicers 
for maintenance of single-family properties secured by GSE-guaranteed 
and FHA-insured loans during the foreclosure process from 2005 through 
2010. We also obtained data on the payments GSEs made to third-party 
contractors for properties in their possession following foreclosure, 
for the years 2005 through 2010. We obtained data from HUD on the 
payments made to third-party contractors for fiscal years 2005 and 
2010 and the first half of fiscal year 2011 for maintenance of HUD-
owned, single-family properties. To assess the reliability of these 
data, we reviewed available documentation and interviewed 
knowledgeable GSE and HUD officials. We determined that the data were 
sufficiently reliable for use in the report. 

To understand the specific costs incurred by localities and strategies 
some localities have taken to address these costs, we reviewed 
relevant literature and conducted case studies of specific locations. 
We reviewed academic and other reports on the effects of vacant and 
foreclosed properties on local communities, strategies being used to 
address these issues, and the recent trends in fiscal conditions among 
states and cities. We categorized the information we gathered from 
these various sources to identify the most common types of strategies 
and their advantages and disadvantages. We also selected nine 
locations from different regions of the country, which had a range of 
(1) experiences with vacant properties, including different costs for 
maintaining vacant properties; (2) experiences with foreclosures, 
including states with judicial and nonjudicial foreclosure processes; 
(3) economic conditions, such as unemployment rates; and (4) HUD 
evaluations of need for funds under the Neighborhood Stabilization 
Program (NSP) and HUD assessments of use of NSP funds. In addition, we 
identified from our literature search locations that were taking 
innovative approaches to the vacant property problem. We selected 
Baltimore, Maryland; Cape Coral, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; 
Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Indianapolis, Indiana; Indio, 
California; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Tucson, Arizona. We conducted in-
person site visits to four locations and conducted telephone 
interviews in other cities with local government officials and 
representatives of nonprofit and community development organizations. 
In addition, we interviewed code enforcement officials about the 
impact of state laws in New York and New Jersey, states that recently 
enacted laws related to the maintenance of vacant properties in 
foreclosure. Although we selected these locations to provide broad 
representation of conditions related to vacant properties, these 
locations may not necessarily be representative of all localities 
nationwide. As a result, we could not generalize the results of our 
analysis to all states and localities. Officials in two of the 
locations provided us with pictures and examples of vacant properties. 
In site visits to Baltimore, Chicago, the Las Vegas area, and Tucson, 
and during prior visits to Cape Coral and Detroit, we visited selected 
vacant and foreclosed properties and took pictures to document 
examples of property conditions. 

To inform our work on each of these objectives, we also conducted 
other interviews. We interviewed staff from one of the largest 
maintenance companies that conducts property inspections and 
maintenance on behalf of services nationwide, academic researchers, 
GSE staff, and five mortgage servicers--including some of the largest 
firms and those that specialized in subprime loans. In addition, we 
interviewed representatives of federal agencies, including the Board 
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the 
Currency (OCC), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and Treasury. 

We conducted this performance audit from November 2010 through 
November 2011 in accordance with generally accepted government 
auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform 
the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a 
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit 
objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a 
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit 
objectives. 

[End of section] 

Appendix II: U.S. Decennial Census Data on Residential Vacancies, 2000 
and 2010: 

The data below were compiled from Census 2000 and 2010 on residential 
vacancies and are available through the U.S. Census Bureau's American 
FactFinder website. Table 5 shows total housing units, total 
vacancies, and vacancies by category. These categories include vacant 
units for rent or sale; for sale only; for seasonal, recreational, or 
occasional use; for migrant workers; or other. The 2000 Census used a 
category of vacant units called "rented or sold, not occupied" while 
the 2010 Census used separate categories for vacant units identified 
as "rented, not occupied" and "sold, not occupied." We combined those 
two categories for 2010 for comparative purposes. Table 5 also shows 
the share of the total housing stock that was vacant in each time 
period, for all vacancies, as well as nonseasonal vacancies, which 
excludes those used seasonally or for migrant workers. The table shows 
the percentage change between 2000 and 2010 for each category of data. 
Census data do not distinguish between single-and multiunit 
residential properties. 

Table 5: Census Data on Vacant Residential Units, 2000 and 2010: 

State: United States; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 131,704,730; 
Total vacancies: 14,988,438; 
For rent or sale: 4,137,567; 
For sale only: 1,896,796; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 627,857; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 4,649,298; 
For migrant workers: 24,161; 
Other vacant: 3,652,759; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 10,314,979; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.8.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 115,904,641; 
Total vacancies: 10,424,540; 
For rent or sale: 2,614,652; 
For sale only: 1,204,318; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 702,435; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 3,578,718; 
For migrant workers: 25,498; 
Other vacant: 2,298,919; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 6,820,324; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.9.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 13.6%; 
Total vacancies: 43.8; 
For rent or sale: 58.2; 
For sale only: 57.5; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -10.6; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 29.9; 
For migrant workers: -5.2; 
Other vacant: 58.9; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 51.2; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 26.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 33.1. 

State: Alabama; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,171,853; 
Total vacancies: 288,062; 
For rent or sale: 79,265; 
For sale only: 35,903; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 12,988; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 63,890; 
For migrant workers: 238; 
Other vacant: 95,778; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 223,934; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.3.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,963,711; 
Total vacancies: 226,631; 
For rent or sale: 64,091; 
For sale only: 25,858; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 15,560; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 47,205; 
For migrant workers: 369; 
Other vacant: 73,548; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 179,057; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.1.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 10.6%; 
Total vacancies: 27.1; 
For rent or sale: 23.7; 
For sale only: 38.8; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -16.5; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 35.3; 
For migrant workers: -35.5; 
Other vacant: 30.2; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 25.1; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 14.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.1. 

State: Alaska; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 306,967; 
Total vacancies: 48,909; 
For rent or sale: 6,729; 
For sale only: 2,876; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,673; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 27,901; 
For migrant workers: 362; 
Other vacant: 9,368; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 20,646; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 15.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.7.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 260,978; 
Total vacancies: 39,378; 
For rent or sale: 7,036; 
For sale only: 2,612; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 2,066; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 21,474; 
For migrant workers: 180; 
Other vacant: 6,010; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 17,724; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 15.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.8.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 17.6%; 
Total vacancies: 24.2; 
For rent or sale: -4.4; 
For sale only: 10.1; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -19.0; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 29.9; 
For migrant workers: 101.1; 
Other vacant: 55.9; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 16.5; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: -1.0. 

State: Arizona; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,844,526; 
Total vacancies: 463,536; 
For rent or sale: 120,490; 
For sale only: 64,407; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 15,999; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 184,327; 
For migrant workers: 538; 
Other vacant: 77,775; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 278,671; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 16.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.8.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 2,189,189; 
Total vacancies: 287,862; 
For rent or sale: 61,781; 
For sale only: 27,775; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 12,679; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 141,965; 
For migrant workers: 636; 
Other vacant: 43,026; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 145,261; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.6.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 29.9%; 
Total vacancies: 61.0; 
For rent or sale: 95.0; 
For sale only: 131.9; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 26.2; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 29.8; 
For migrant workers: -15.4; 
Other vacant: 80.8; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 91.8; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 23.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 47.6. 

State: Arkansas; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 1,316,299; 
Total vacancies: 169,215; 
For rent or sale: 46,443; 
For sale only: 18,500; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 7,134; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 38,153; 
For migrant workers: 345; 
Other vacant: 58,640; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 130,717; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.9.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,173,043; 
Total vacancies: 130,347; 
For rent or sale: 33,740; 
For sale only: 18,238; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 8,974; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 29,012; 
For migrant workers: 377; 
Other vacant: 40,006; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 100,958; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.6.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 12.2%; 
Total vacancies: 29.8; 
For rent or sale: 37.6; 
For sale only: 1.4; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -20.5; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 31.5; 
For migrant workers: -8.5; 
Other vacant: 46.6; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 29.5; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 15.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 15.4. 

State: California; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 13,680,081; 
Total vacancies: 1,102,583; 
For rent or sale: 374,610; 
For sale only: 154,775; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 54,635; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 302,815; 
For migrant workers: 2,100; 
Other vacant: 213,648; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 797,668; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.8.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 12,214,549; 
Total vacancies: 711,679; 
For rent or sale: 190,321; 
For sale only: 92,197; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 50,846; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 236,857; 
For migrant workers: 2,205; 
Other vacant: 139,253; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 472,617; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 3.9.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 12.0%; 
Total vacancies: 54.9; 
For rent or sale: 96.8; 
For sale only: 67.9; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 7.5; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 27.8; 
For migrant workers: -4.8; 
Other vacant: 53.4; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 68.8; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 38.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 50.7. 

State: Colorado; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,212,898; 
Total vacancies: 240,030; 
For rent or sale: 57,644; 
For sale only: 32,673; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 8,476; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 101,965; 
For migrant workers: 524; 
Other vacant: 38,748; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 137,541; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.2.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,808,037; 
Total vacancies: 149,799; 
For rent or sale: 31,852; 
For sale only: 16,142; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 8,116; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 72,263; 
For migrant workers: 449; 
Other vacant: 20,977; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 77,087; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.3.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 22.4%; 
Total vacancies: 60.2; 
For rent or sale: 81.0; 
For sale only: 102.4; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 4.4; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 41.1; 
For migrant workers: 16.7; 
Other vacant: 84.7; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 78.4; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 30.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 45.8. 

State: Connecticut; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 1,487,891; 
Total vacancies: 116,804; 
For rent or sale: 40,004; 
For sale only: 15,564; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 5,689; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 29,618; 
For migrant workers: 55; 
Other vacant: 25,874; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 87,131; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.9.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,385,975; 
Total vacancies: 84,305; 
For rent or sale: 25,575; 
For sale only: 9,305; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 6,320; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 23,379; 
For migrant workers: 138; 
Other vacant: 19,588; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 60,788; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.4.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 7.4%; 
Total vacancies: 38.5; 
For rent or sale: 56.4; 
For sale only: 67.3; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -10.0; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 26.7; 
For migrant workers: -60.1; 
Other vacant: 32.1; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 43.3; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 29.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 33.5. 

State: Delaware; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 405,885; 
Total vacancies: 63,588; 
For rent or sale: 11,399; 
For sale only: 5,985; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,687; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 35,939; 
For migrant workers: 43; 
Other vacant: 8,535; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 27,606; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 15.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.8.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 343,072; 
Total vacancies: 44,336; 
For rent or sale: 7,393; 
For sale only: 3,273; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,693; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 25,977; 
For migrant workers: 53; 
Other vacant: 5,947; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 18,306; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.3.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 18.3%; 
Total vacancies: 43.4; 
For rent or sale: 54.2; 
For sale only: 82.9; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -0.4; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 38.3; 
For migrant workers: -18.9; 
Other vacant: 43.5; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 50.8; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 21.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 27.5. 

State: District of Columbia; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 296,719; 
Total vacancies: 30,012; 
For rent or sale: 13,393; 
For sale only: 3,930; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,933; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 3,537; 
For migrant workers: 8; 
Other vacant: 7,211; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 26,467; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.9.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 274,845; 
Total vacancies: 26,507; 
For rent or sale: 9,202; 
For sale only: 3,021; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 2,667; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 2,207; 
For migrant workers: 47; 
Other vacant: 9,363; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 24,253; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.8.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 8.0%; 
Total vacancies: 13.2; 
For rent or sale: 45.5; 
For sale only: 30.1; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -27.5; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 60.3; 
For migrant workers: -83.0; 
Other vacant: -23.0; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 9.1; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 1.1. 

State: Florida; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 8,989,580; 
Total vacancies: 1,568,778; 
For rent or sale: 371,626; 
For sale only: 198,232; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 47,349; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 657,070; 
For migrant workers: 1,541; 
Other vacant: 292,960; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 910,167; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 17.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.1.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 7,302,947; 
Total vacancies: 965,018; 
For rent or sale: 195,336; 
For sale only: 101,667; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 53,429; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 482,944; 
For migrant workers: 1,881; 
Other vacant: 129,761; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 480,193; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.6.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 23.1%; 
Total vacancies: 62.6; 
For rent or sale: 90.2; 
For sale only: 95.0; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -11.4; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 36.1; 
For migrant workers: -18.1; 
Other vacant: 125.8; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 89.5; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 32.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 54.0. 

State: Georgia; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 4,088,801; 
Total vacancies: 503,217; 
For rent or sale: 174,416; 
For sale only: 83,852; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 19,910; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 81,511; 
For migrant workers: 854; 
Other vacant: 142,674; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 420,852; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.3.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 3,281,737; 
Total vacancies: 275,368; 
For rent or sale: 86,905; 
For sale only: 38,440; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 20,353; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 50,064; 
For migrant workers: 969; 
Other vacant: 78,637; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 224,335; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.8.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 24.6%; 
Total vacancies: 82.7; 
For rent or sale: 100.7; 
For sale only: 118.1; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -2.2; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 62.8; 
For migrant workers: -11.9; 
Other vacant: 81.4; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 87.6; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 46.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 50.6. 

State: Hawaii; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 519,508; 
Total vacancies: 64,170; 
For rent or sale: 16,441; 
For sale only: 4,277; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 2,105; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 30,079; 
For migrant workers: 117; 
Other vacant: 11,151; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 33,974; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.5.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 460,542; 
Total vacancies: 57,302; 
For rent or sale: 15,699; 
For sale only: 3,720; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 2,683; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 25,584; 
For migrant workers: 57; 
Other vacant: 9,559; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 31,661; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.9.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 12.8%; 
Total vacancies: 12.0; 
For rent or sale: 4.7; 
For sale only: 15.0; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -21.5; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 17.6; 
For migrant workers: 105.3; 
Other vacant: 16.7; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 7.3; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: -0.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: -4.9. 

State: Idaho; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 667,796; 
Total vacancies: 88,388; 
For rent or sale: 16,360; 
For sale only: 12,814; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 3,174; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 41,660; 
For migrant workers: 632; 
Other vacant: 13,748; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 46,096; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.9.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 527,824; 
Total vacancies: 58,179; 
For rent or sale: 10,656; 
For sale only: 7,682; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 2,725; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 27,478; 
For migrant workers: 721; 
Other vacant: 8,917; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 29,980; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.7.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 26.5%; 
Total vacancies: 51.9; 
For rent or sale: 53.5; 
For sale only: 66.8; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 16.5; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 51.6; 
For migrant workers: -12.3; 
Other vacant: 54.2; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 53.8; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 20.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 21.5. 

State: Illinois; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 5,296,715; 
Total vacancies: 459,743; 
For rent or sale: 158,882; 
For sale only: 82,739; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 24,675; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 47,289; 
For migrant workers: 315; 
Other vacant: 145,843; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 412,139; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.8.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 4,885,615; 
Total vacancies: 293,836; 
For rent or sale: 99,019; 
For sale only: 46,896; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 31,689; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 29,712; 
For migrant workers: 407; 
Other vacant: 86,113; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 263,717; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.4.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 8.4%; 
Total vacancies: 56.5; 
For rent or sale: 60.5; 
For sale only: 76.4; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -22.1; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 59.2; 
For migrant workers: -22.6; 
Other vacant: 69.4; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 56.3; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 44.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 44.2. 

State: Indiana; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,795,541; 
Total vacancies: 293,387; 
For rent or sale: 93,029; 
For sale only: 46,410; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 14,721; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 45,571; 
For migrant workers: 200; 
Other vacant: 93,456; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 247,616; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.9.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 2,532,319; 
Total vacancies: 196,013; 
For rent or sale: 64,363; 
For sale only: 29,816; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 17,432; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 33,803; 
For migrant workers: 179; 
Other vacant: 50,420; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 162,031; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.4.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 10.4%; 
Total vacancies: 49.7; 
For rent or sale: 44.5; 
For sale only: 55.7; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -15.6; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 34.8; 
For migrant workers: 11.7; 
Other vacant: 85.4; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 52.8; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 35.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 38.4. 

State: Iowa; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 1,336,417; 
Total vacancies: 114,841; 
For rent or sale: 31,812; 
For sale only: 18,405; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 7,358; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 21,020; 
For migrant workers: 87; 
Other vacant: 36,159; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 93,734; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.0.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,232,511; 
Total vacancies: 83,235; 
For rent or sale: 23,272; 
For sale only: 14,067; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 7,444; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 16,472; 
For migrant workers: 77; 
Other vacant: 21,903; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 66,686; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.4.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 8.4%; 
Total vacancies: 38.0; 
For rent or sale: 36.7; 
For sale only: 30.8; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -1.2; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 27.6; 
For migrant workers: 13.0; 
Other vacant: 65.1; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 40.6; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 27.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 29.6. 

State: Kansas; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 1,233,215; 
Total vacancies: 121,119; 
For rent or sale: 40,445; 
For sale only: 16,286; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 7,229; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 12,763; 
For migrant workers: 129; 
Other vacant: 44,267; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 108,227; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.8.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,131,200; 
Total vacancies: 93,309; 
For rent or sale: 30,940; 
For sale only: 14,821; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 7,845; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 9,639; 
For migrant workers: 137; 
Other vacant: 29,927; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 83,533; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.4.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 9.0%; 
Total vacancies: 29.8; 
For rent or sale: 30.7; 
For sale only: 9.9; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -7.9; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 32.4; 
For migrant workers: -5.8; 
Other vacant: 47.9; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 29.6; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 19.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 18.8. 

State: Kentucky; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 1,927,164; 
Total vacancies: 207,199; 
For rent or sale: 56,960; 
For sale only: 27,286; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 11,746; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 38,616; 
For migrant workers: 627; 
Other vacant: 71,964; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 167,956; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.7.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,750,927; 
Total vacancies: 160,280; 
For rent or sale: 44,268; 
For sale only: 20,748; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 13,421; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 30,420; 
For migrant workers: 715; 
Other vacant: 50,708; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 129,145; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.4.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 10.1%; 
Total vacancies: 29.3; 
For rent or sale: 28.7; 
For sale only: 31.5; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -12.5; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 26.9; 
For migrant workers: -12.3; 
Other vacant: 41.9; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 30.1; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 17.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 18.2. 

State: Louisiana; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 1,964,981; 
Total vacancies: 236,621; 
For rent or sale: 66,857; 
For sale only: 21,480; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 10,567; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 42,253; 
For migrant workers: 999; 
Other vacant: 94,465; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 193,369; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.8.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,847,181; 
Total vacancies: 191,128; 
For rent or sale: 54,185; 
For sale only: 18,097; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 18,144; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 39,578; 
For migrant workers: 525; 
Other vacant: 60,599; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 151,025; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 6.4%; 
Total vacancies: 23.8; 
For rent or sale: 23.4; 
For sale only: 18.7; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -41.8; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 6.8; 
For migrant workers: 90.3; 
Other vacant: 55.9; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 28.0; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 16.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 20.4. 

State: Maine; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 721,830; 
Total vacancies: 164,611; 
For rent or sale: 15,738; 
For sale only: 9,711; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 3,110; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 118,310; 
For migrant workers: 160; 
Other vacant: 17,582; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 46,141; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 22.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.4.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 651,901; 
Total vacancies: 133,701; 
For rent or sale: 11,153; 
For sale only: 6,249; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 3,569; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 101,470; 
For migrant workers: 70; 
Other vacant: 11,190; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 32,161; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 20.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.9.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 10.7%; 
Total vacancies: 23.1; 
For rent or sale: 41.1; 
For sale only: 55.4; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -12.9; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 16.6; 
For migrant workers: 128.6; 
Other vacant: 57.1; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 43.5; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 29.6. 

State: Maryland; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,378,814; 
Total vacancies: 222,403; 
For rent or sale: 61,874; 
For sale only: 32,883; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 10,328; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 55,786; 
For migrant workers: 177; 
Other vacant: 61,355; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 166,440; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.0.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 2,145,283; 
Total vacancies: 164,424; 
For rent or sale: 41,751; 
For sale only: 22,375; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 12,492; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 38,880; 
For migrant workers: 167; 
Other vacant: 48,759; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 125,377; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.8.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 10.9%; 
Total vacancies: 35.3; 
For rent or sale: 48.2; 
For sale only: 47.0; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -17.3; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 43.5; 
For migrant workers: 6.0; 
Other vacant: 25.8; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 32.8; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 22.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 19.7. 

State: Massachusetts; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,808,254; 
Total vacancies: 261,179; 
For rent or sale: 66,673; 
For sale only: 25,038; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 10,230; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 115,630; 
For migrant workers: 161; 
Other vacant: 43,447; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 145,388; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.2.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 2,621,989; 
Total vacancies: 178,409; 
For rent or sale: 34,174; 
For sale only: 10,861; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 9,218; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 93,771; 
For migrant workers: 194; 
Other vacant: 30,191; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 84,444; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 3.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 7.1%; 
Total vacancies: 46.4; 
For rent or sale: 95.1; 
For sale only: 130.5; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 11.0; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 23.3; 
For migrant workers: -17.0; 
Other vacant: 43.9; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 72.2; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 36.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 60.8. 

State: Michigan; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 4,532,233; 
Total vacancies: 659,725; 
For rent or sale: 141,687; 
For sale only: 77,080; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 24,662; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 263,071; 
For migrant workers: 1,773; 
Other vacant: 151,452; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 394,881; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 14.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.7.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 4,234,279; 
Total vacancies: 448,618; 
For rent or sale: 72,805; 
For sale only: 44,250; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 27,161; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 233,922; 
For migrant workers: 1,449; 
Other vacant: 69,031; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 213,247; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.0.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 7.0%; 
Total vacancies: 47.1; 
For rent or sale: 94.6; 
For sale only: 74.2; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -9.2; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 12.5; 
For migrant workers: 22.4; 
Other vacant: 119.4; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 85.2; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 37.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 73.0. 

State: Minnesota; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,347,201; 
Total vacancies: 259,974; 
For rent or sale: 48,091; 
For sale only: 30,726; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 9,430; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 130,471; 
For migrant workers: 334; 
Other vacant: 40,922; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 129,169; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.5.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 2,065,946; 
Total vacancies: 170,819; 
For rent or sale: 20,452; 
For sale only: 13,392; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 8,022; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 105,609; 
For migrant workers: 554; 
Other vacant: 22,790; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 64,656; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 3.1.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 13.6%; 
Total vacancies: 52.2; 
For rent or sale: 135.1; 
For sale only: 129.4; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 17.6; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 23.5; 
For migrant workers: -39.7; 
Other vacant: 79.6; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 99.8; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 34.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 75.8. 

State: Mississippi; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 1,274,719; 
Total vacancies: 158,951; 
For rent or sale: 44,735; 
For sale only: 16,886; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 6,835; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 28,867; 
For migrant workers: 318; 
Other vacant: 61,310; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 129,766; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.2.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,161,953; 
Total vacancies: 115,519; 
For rent or sale: 29,486; 
For sale only: 12,456; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 10,035; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 21,845; 
For migrant workers: 299; 
Other vacant: 41,398; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 93,375; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.0.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 9.7%; 
Total vacancies: 37.6; 
For rent or sale: 51.7; 
For sale only: 35.6; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -31.9; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 32.1; 
For migrant workers: 6.4; 
Other vacant: 48.1; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 39.0; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 25.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 26.7. 

State: Missouri; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,712,729; 
Total vacancies: 337,118; 
For rent or sale: 92,946; 
For sale only: 44,200; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 15,388; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 80,374; 
For migrant workers: 193; 
Other vacant: 104,017; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 256,551; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.5.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 2,442,017; 
Total vacancies: 247,423; 
For rent or sale: 64,167; 
For sale only: 33,775; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 18,843; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 66,053; 
For migrant workers: 262; 
Other vacant: 64,323; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 181,108; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.4.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 11.1%; 
Total vacancies: 36.3; 
For rent or sale: 44.9; 
For sale only: 30.9; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -18.3; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 21.7; 
For migrant workers: -26.3; 
Other vacant: 61.7; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 41.7; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 22.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 27.5. 

State: Montana; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 482,825; 
Total vacancies: 73,218; 
For rent or sale: 10,082; 
For sale only: 5,964; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 2,126; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 38,510; 
For migrant workers: 283; 
Other vacant: 16,253; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 34,425; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 15.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.1.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 412,633; 
Total vacancies: 53,966; 
For rent or sale: 9,163; 
For sale only: 5,581; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 2,540; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 24,213; 
For migrant workers: 248; 
Other vacant: 12,221; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 29,505; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 17.0%; 
Total vacancies: 35.7; 
For rent or sale: 10.0; 
For sale only: 6.9; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -16.3; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 59.0; 
For migrant workers: 14.1; 
Other vacant: 33.0; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 16.7; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 16.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: -0.3. 

State: Nebraska; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 796,793; 
Total vacancies: 75,663; 
For rent or sale: 24,404; 
For sale only: 9,167; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 4,083; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 13,881; 
For migrant workers: 60; 
Other vacant: 24,068; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 61,722; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.7.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 722,668; 
Total vacancies: 56,484; 
For rent or sale: 17,936; 
For sale only: 8,284; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 4,582; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 11,912; 
For migrant workers: 127; 
Other vacant: 13,643; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 44,445; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 10.3%; 
Total vacancies: 34.0; 
For rent or sale: 36.1; 
For sale only: 10.7; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -10.9; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 16.5; 
For migrant workers: -52.8; 
Other vacant: 76.4; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 38.9; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 21.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 26.0. 

State: Nevada; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 1,173,814; 
Total vacancies: 167,564; 
For rent or sale: 61,985; 
For sale only: 32,949; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 5,254; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 32,703; 
For migrant workers: 242; 
Other vacant: 34,431; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 134,619; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 14.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.5.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 827,457; 
Total vacancies: 76,292; 
For rent or sale: 31,635; 
For sale only: 12,021; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 4,209; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 16,526; 
For migrant workers: 281; 
Other vacant: 11,620; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 59,485; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 41.9%; 
Total vacancies: 119.6; 
For rent or sale: 95.9; 
For sale only: 174.1; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 24.8; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 97.9; 
For migrant workers: -13.9; 
Other vacant: 196.3; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 126.3; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 54.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 59.5. 

State: New Hampshire; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 614,754; 
Total vacancies: 95,781; 
For rent or sale: 13,293; 
For sale only: 7,521; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 2,180; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 63,910; 
For migrant workers: 27; 
Other vacant: 8,850; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 31,844; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 15.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.2.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 547,024; 
Total vacancies: 72,418; 
For rent or sale: 5,218; 
For sale only: 3,252; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,898; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 56,413; 
For migrant workers: 29; 
Other vacant: 5,608; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 15,976; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 2.9.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 12.4%; 
Total vacancies: 32.3; 
For rent or sale: 154.8; 
For sale only: 131.3; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 14.9; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 13.3; 
For migrant workers: -6.9; 
Other vacant: 57.8; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 99.3; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 17.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 77.4. 

State: New Jersey; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 3,553,562; 
Total vacancies: 339,202; 
For rent or sale: 92,118; 
For sale only: 39,260; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 12,723; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 134,903; 
For migrant workers: 156; 
Other vacant: 60,042; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 204,143; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.7.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 3,310,275; 
Total vacancies: 245,630; 
For rent or sale: 49,858; 
For sale only: 24,546; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 15,206; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 109,075; 
For migrant workers: 246; 
Other vacant: 46,699; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 136,309; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.1.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 7.3%; 
Total vacancies: 38.1; 
For rent or sale: 84.8; 
For sale only: 59.9; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -16.3; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 23.7; 
For migrant workers: -36.6; 
Other vacant: 28.6; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 49.8; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 28.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 39.5. 

State: New Mexico; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 901,388; 
Total vacancies: 109,993; 
For rent or sale: 22,150; 
For sale only: 11,050; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 3,446; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 36,612; 
For migrant workers: 229; 
Other vacant: 36,506; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 73,152; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.1.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 780,579; 
Total vacancies: 102,608; 
For rent or sale: 26,697; 
For sale only: 10,693; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 4,738; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 31,990; 
For migrant workers: 332; 
Other vacant: 28,158; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 70,286; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.0.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 15.5%; 
Total vacancies: 7.2; 
For rent or sale: -17.0; 
For sale only: 3.3; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -27.3; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 14.4; 
For migrant workers: -31.0; 
Other vacant: 29.6; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 4.1; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: -7.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: -9.9. 

State: New York; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 8,108,103; 
Total vacancies: 790,348; 
For rent or sale: 200,039; 
For sale only: 77,225; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 33,813; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 289,301; 
For migrant workers: 892; 
Other vacant: 189,078; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 500,155; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.2.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 7,679,307; 
Total vacancies: 622,447; 
For rent or sale: 158,569; 
For sale only: 59,405; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 40,439; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 235,043; 
For migrant workers: 750; 
Other vacant: 128,241; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 386,654; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.0.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 5.6%; 
Total vacancies: 27.0; 
For rent or sale: 26.2; 
For sale only: 30.0; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -16.4; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 23.1; 
For migrant workers: 18.9; 
Other vacant: 47.4; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 29.4; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 20.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 22.5. 

State: North Carolina; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 4,327,528; 
Total vacancies: 582,373; 
For rent or sale: 156,587; 
For sale only: 71,693; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 21,181; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 191,508; 
For migrant workers: 1,620; 
Other vacant: 139,784; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 389,245; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.0.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 3,523,944; 
Total vacancies: 391,931; 
For rent or sale: 92,893; 
For sale only: 44,007; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 26,523; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 134,870; 
For migrant workers: 1,890; 
Other vacant: 91,748; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 255,171; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 22.8%; 
Total vacancies: 48.6; 
For rent or sale: 68.6; 
For sale only: 62.9; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -20.1; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 42.0; 
For migrant workers: -14.3; 
Other vacant: 52.4; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 52.5; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 21.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 24.2. 

State: North Dakota; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 317,498; 
Total vacancies: 36,306; 
For rent or sale: 7,422; 
For sale only: 2,734; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,597; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 11,483; 
For migrant workers: 319; 
Other vacant: 12,751; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 24,504; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.7.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 289,677; 
Total vacancies: 32,525; 
For rent or sale: 7,642; 
For sale only: 4,713; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,631; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 8,340; 
For migrant workers: 263; 
Other vacant: 9,936; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 23,922; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.3.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 9.6%; 
Total vacancies: 11.6; 
For rent or sale: -2.9; 
For sale only: -42.0; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -2.1; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 37.7; 
For migrant workers: 21.3; 
Other vacant: 28.3; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 2.4; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 1.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: -6.5. 

State: Ohio; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 5,127,508; 
Total vacancies: 524,073; 
For rent or sale: 184,143; 
For sale only: 78,089; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 27,389; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 58,591; 
For migrant workers: 346; 
Other vacant: 175,515; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 465,136; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.1.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 4,783,051; 
Total vacancies: 337,278; 
For rent or sale: 125,095; 
For sale only: 48,404; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 33,182; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 47,239; 
For migrant workers: 355; 
Other vacant: 83,003; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 289,684; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.1.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 7.2%; 
Total vacancies: 55.4; 
For rent or sale: 47.2; 
For sale only: 61.3; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -17.5; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 24.0; 
For migrant workers: -2.5; 
Other vacant: 111.5; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 60.6; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 44.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 49.8. 

State: Oklahoma; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 1,664,378; 
Total vacancies: 203,928; 
For rent or sale: 59,264; 
For sale only: 22,671; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 11,122; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 35,187; 
For migrant workers: 318; 
Other vacant: 75,366; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 168,423; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.1.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,514,400; 
Total vacancies: 172,107; 
For rent or sale: 50,165; 
For sale only: 23,725; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 14,228; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 32,293; 
For migrant workers: 232; 
Other vacant: 51,464; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 139,582; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 9.9%; 
Total vacancies: 18.5; 
For rent or sale: 18.1; 
For sale only: -4.4; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -21.8; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 9.0; 
For migrant workers: 37.1; 
Other vacant: 46.4; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 20.7; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.8. 

State: Oregon; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 1,675,562; 
Total vacancies: 156,624; 
For rent or sale: 40,193; 
For sale only: 24,191; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 7,009; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 55,473; 
For migrant workers: 461; 
Other vacant: 29,297; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 100,690; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.0.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,452,709; 
Total vacancies: 118,986; 
For rent or sale: 37,482; 
For sale only: 20,349; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 7,158; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 36,850; 
For migrant workers: 333; 
Other vacant: 16,814; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 81,803; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.6.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 15.3%; 
Total vacancies: 31.6; 
For rent or sale: 7.2; 
For sale only: 18.9; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -2.1; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 50.5; 
For migrant workers: 38.4; 
Other vacant: 74.2; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 23.1; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 14.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.7. 

State: Pennsylvania; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 5,567,315; 
Total vacancies: 548,411; 
For rent or sale: 135,262; 
For sale only: 64,818; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 29,517; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 161,582; 
For migrant workers: 411; 
Other vacant: 156,821; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 386,418; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.9.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 5,249,750; 
Total vacancies: 472,747; 
For rent or sale: 105,585; 
For sale only: 55,891; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 37,494; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 148,230; 
For migrant workers: 386; 
Other vacant: 125,161; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 324,131; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 6.0%; 
Total vacancies: 16.0; 
For rent or sale: 28.1; 
For sale only: 16.0; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -21.3; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 9.0; 
For migrant workers: 6.5; 
Other vacant: 25.3; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 19.2; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.4. 

State: Rhode Island; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 463,388; 
Total vacancies: 49,788; 
For rent or sale: 15,763; 
For sale only: 5,171; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,946; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 17,077; 
For migrant workers: 12; 
Other vacant: 9,819; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 32,699; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.1.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 439,837; 
Total vacancies: 31,413; 
For rent or sale: 8,615; 
For sale only: 2,400; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,726; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 12,988; 
For migrant workers: 14; 
Other vacant: 5,670; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 18,411; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 5.4%; 
Total vacancies: 58.5; 
For rent or sale: 83.0; 
For sale only: 115.5; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 12.7; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 31.5; 
For migrant workers: -14.3; 
Other vacant: 73.2; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 77.6; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 50.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 68.6. 

State: South Carolina; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,137,683; 
Total vacancies: 336,502; 
For rent or sale: 92,758; 
For sale only: 36,523; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 12,476; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 112,531; 
For migrant workers: 370; 
Other vacant: 81,844; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 223,601; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 15.7; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.5.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 1,753,670; 
Total vacancies: 219,816; 
For rent or sale: 58,176; 
For sale only: 21,955; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 15,930; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 70,198; 
For migrant workers: 420; 
Other vacant: 53,137; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 149,198; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.5.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 21.9%; 
Total vacancies: 53.1; 
For rent or sale: 59.4; 
For sale only: 66.4; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -21.7; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 60.3; 
For migrant workers: -11.9; 
Other vacant: 54.0; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 49.9; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 25.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 22.9. 

State: South Dakota; 
Year: 2,010; 
Housing units: 363,438; 
Total vacancies: 41,156; 
For rent or sale: 10,366; 
For sale only: 3,696; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,956; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 13,277; 
For migrant workers: 88; 
Other vacant: 11,773; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 27,791; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.6.
Year: 2,000; 
Housing units: 323,208; 
Total vacancies: 32,963; 
For rent or sale: 8,057; 
For sale only: 3,718; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 2,053; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 9,839; 
For migrant workers: 35; 
Other vacant: 9,261; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 23,089; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.1.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 12.4%; 
Total vacancies: 24.9; 
For rent or sale: 28.7; 
For sale only: -0.6; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -4.7; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 34.9; 
For migrant workers: 151.4; 
Other vacant: 27.1; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 20.4; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.0. 

State: Tennessee; 
Year: 2,010; 
Housing units: 2,812,133; 
Total vacancies: 318,581; 
For rent or sale: 98,370; 
For sale only: 47,274; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 14,498; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 60,778; 
For migrant workers: 392; 
Other vacant: 97,269; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 257,411; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 11.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.2.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 2,439,443; 
Total vacancies: 206,538; 
For rent or sale: 64,476; 
For sale only: 31,876; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 14,838; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 36,712; 
For migrant workers: 442; 
Other vacant: 58,194; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 169,384; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.9.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 15.3%; 
Total vacancies: 54.2; 
For rent or sale: 52.6; 
For sale only: 48.3; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -2.3; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 65.6; 
For migrant workers: -11.3; 
Other vacant: 67.1; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 52.0; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 33.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 31.8. 

State: Texas; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 9,977,436; 
Total vacancies: 1,054,503; 
For rent or sale: 394,310; 
For sale only: 121,430; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 46,946; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 208,733; 
For migrant workers: 2,209; 
Other vacant: 280,875; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 843,561; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.5.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 8,157,575; 
Total vacancies: 764,221; 
For rent or sale: 249,240; 
For sale only: 85,732; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 49,625; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 173,149; 
For migrant workers: 3,453; 
Other vacant: 203,022; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 587,619; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 22.3%; 
Total vacancies: 38.0; 
For rent or sale: 58.2; 
For sale only: 41.6; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -5.4; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 20.6; 
For migrant workers: -36.0; 
Other vacant: 38.3; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 43.6; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 17.4. 

State: Utah; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 979,709; 
Total vacancies: 102,017; 
For rent or sale: 20,176; 
For sale only: 14,580; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 4,236; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 47,978; 
For migrant workers: 232; 
Other vacant: 14,815; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 53,807; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.5.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 768,594; 
Total vacancies: 67,313; 
For rent or sale: 13,780; 
For sale only: 10,586; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 3,333; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 29,685; 
For migrant workers: 138; 
Other vacant: 9,791; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 37,490; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.9.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 27.5%; 
Total vacancies: 51.6; 
For rent or sale: 46.4; 
For sale only: 37.7; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 27.1; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 61.6; 
For migrant workers: 68.1; 
Other vacant: 51.3; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 43.5; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 18.9; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.6. 

State: Vermont; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 322,539; 
Total vacancies: 66,097; 
For rent or sale: 5,635; 
For sale only: 3,598; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,212; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 50,198; 
For migrant workers: 39; 
Other vacant: 5,415; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 15,860; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 20.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.9.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 294,382; 
Total vacancies: 53,748; 
For rent or sale: 3,084; 
For sale only: 2,393; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,381; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 43,060; 
For migrant workers: 46; 
Other vacant: 3,784; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 10,642; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 18.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 3.6.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 9.6%; 
Total vacancies: 23.0; 
For rent or sale: 82.7; 
For sale only: 50.4; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -12.2; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 16.6; 
For migrant workers: -15.2; 
Other vacant: 43.1; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 49.0; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 36.0. 

State: Virginia; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 3,364,939; 
Total vacancies: 308,881; 
For rent or sale: 82,493; 
For sale only: 44,881; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 14,978; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 80,468; 
For migrant workers: 608; 
Other vacant: 85,453; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 227,805; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.8.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 2,904,192; 
Total vacancies: 205,019; 
For rent or sale: 47,563; 
For sale only: 27,407; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 16,254; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 54,696; 
For migrant workers: 652; 
Other vacant: 58,447; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 149,671; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.2.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 15.9%; 
Total vacancies: 50.7; 
For rent or sale: 73.4; 
For sale only: 63.8; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -7.9; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 47.1; 
For migrant workers: -6.7; 
Other vacant: 46.2; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 52.2; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 30.0; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 31.4. 

State: Washington; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,885,677; 
Total vacancies: 265,601; 
For rent or sale: 72,112; 
For sale only: 41,417; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 12,500; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 89,907; 
For migrant workers: 1,328; 
Other vacant: 48,337; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 174,366; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 6.0.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 2,451,075; 
Total vacancies: 179,677; 
For rent or sale: 50,887; 
For sale only: 27,255; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 11,256; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 60,355; 
For migrant workers: 1,197; 
Other vacant: 28,727; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 118,125; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.3; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.8.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 17.7%; 
Total vacancies: 47.8; 
For rent or sale: 41.7; 
For sale only: 52.0; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 11.1; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 49.0; 
For migrant workers: 10.9; 
Other vacant: 68.3; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 47.6; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 25.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 25.4. 

State: West Virginia; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 881,917; 
Total vacancies: 118,086; 
For rent or sale: 19,521; 
For sale only: 10,381; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 5,963; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 38,283; 
For migrant workers: 118; 
Other vacant: 43,820; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 79,685; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 9.0.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 844,623; 
Total vacancies: 108,142; 
For rent or sale: 18,286; 
For sale only: 12,243; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 7,954; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 32,757; 
For migrant workers: 61; 
Other vacant: 36,841; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 75,324; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 12.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 8.9.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 4.4%; 
Total vacancies: 9.2; 
For rent or sale: 6.8; 
For sale only: -15.2; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -25.0; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 16.9; 
For migrant workers: 93.4; 
Other vacant: 18.9; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 5.8; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.6; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 1.3. 

State: Wisconsin; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 2,624,358; 
Total vacancies: 344,590; 
For rent or sale: 63,268; 
For sale only: 34,219; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 9,436; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 193,046; 
For migrant workers: 249; 
Other vacant: 44,372; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 151,295; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 5.8.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 2,321,144; 
Total vacancies: 236,600; 
For rent or sale: 38,714; 
For sale only: 17,172; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 9,386; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 142,313; 
For migrant workers: 205; 
Other vacant: 28,810; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 94,082; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 10.2; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 4.1.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 13.1%; 
Total vacancies: 45.6; 
For rent or sale: 63.4; 
For sale only: 99.3; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 0.5; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 35.6; 
For migrant workers: 21.5; 
Other vacant: 54.0; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 60.8; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 28.8; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 42.2. 

State: Wyoming; 
Year: 2010; 
Housing units: 261,868; 
Total vacancies: 34,989; 
For rent or sale: 7,304; 
For sale only: 3,376; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,239; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 14,892; 
For migrant workers: 322; 
Other vacant: 7,856; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 19,775; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.4; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.6.
Year: 2000; 
Housing units: 223,854; 
Total vacancies: 30,246; 
For rent or sale: 6,214; 
For sale only: 2,977; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: 1,445; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 12,389; 
For migrant workers: 246; 
Other vacant: 6,975; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 17,611; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: 13.5; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: 7.9.
Percent change: 
Year: 2000-2010; 
Housing units: 17.0%; 
Total vacancies: 15.7; 
For rent or sale: 17.5; 
For sale only: 13.4; 
Rented or sold, not occupied: -14.3; 
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use: 20.2; 
For migrant workers: 30.9; 
Other vacant: 12.6; 
Total nonseasonal vacant units: 12.3; 
Vacant units' share of housing stock: -1.1; 
Nonseasonal vacant units' share of housing stock: -4.0. 

Source: Census 2000 and 2010 data. 

[End of table] 

Table 6 shows the total number of vacant residential units in 2000 and 
2010 according to decennial Census data, as well as the percentage 
change between the two censuses. The table also shows the states 
ranked by number of residential vacant units in 2010, with Florida at 
the top because of the large number of vacant units in that state in 
2010. 

Table 6: Number of Vacant Residential Units, 2010 Census: 

State: United States; 
Vacancies 2010: 14,988,438; 
Vacancies 2000: 10,424,540; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 43.8. 

State: Florida; 
Vacancies 2010: 1,568,778; 
Vacancies 2000: 965,018; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 62.6. 

State: California; 
Vacancies 2010: 1,102,583; 
Vacancies 2000: 711,679; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 54.9. 

State: Texas; 
Vacancies 2010: 1,054,503; 
Vacancies 2000: 764,221; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 38.0. 

State: New York; 
Vacancies 2010: 790,348; 
Vacancies 2000: 622,447; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 27.0. 

State: Michigan; 
Vacancies 2010: 659,725; 
Vacancies 2000: 448,618; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 47.1. 

State: North Carolina; 
Vacancies 2010: 582,373; 
Vacancies 2000: 391,931; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 48.6. 

State: Pennsylvania; 
Vacancies 2010: 548,411; 
Vacancies 2000: 472,747; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 16.0. 

State: Ohio; 
Vacancies 2010: 524,073; 
Vacancies 2000: 337,278; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 55.4. 

State: Georgia; 
Vacancies 2010: 503,217; 
Vacancies 2000: 275,368; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 82.7. 

State: Arizona; 
Vacancies 2010: 463,536; 
Vacancies 2000: 287,862; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 61.0. 

State: Illinois; 
Vacancies 2010: 459,743; 
Vacancies 2000: 293,836; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 56.5. 

State: Wisconsin; 
Vacancies 2010: 344,590; 
Vacancies 2000: 236,600; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 45.6. 

State: New Jersey; 
Vacancies 2010: 339,202; 
Vacancies 2000: 245,630; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 38.1. 

State: Missouri; 
Vacancies 2010: 337,118; 
Vacancies 2000: 247,423; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 36.3. 

State: South Carolina; 
Vacancies 2010: 336,502; 
Vacancies 2000: 219,816; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 53.1. 

State: Tennessee; 
Vacancies 2010: 318,581; 
Vacancies 2000: 206,538; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 54.2. 

State: Virginia; 
Vacancies 2010: 308,881; 
Vacancies 2000: 205,019; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 50.7. 

State: Indiana; 
Vacancies 2010: 293,387; 
Vacancies 2000: 196,013; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 49.7. 

State: Alabama; 
Vacancies 2010: 288,062; 
Vacancies 2000: 226,631; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 27.1. 

State: Washington; 
Vacancies 2010: 265,601; 
Vacancies 2000: 179,677; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 47.8. 

State: Massachusetts; 
Vacancies 2010: 261,179; 
Vacancies 2000: 178,409; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 46.4. 

State: Minnesota; 
Vacancies 2010: 259,974; 
Vacancies 2000: 170,819; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 52.2. 

State: Colorado; 
Vacancies 2010: 240,030; 
Vacancies 2000: 149,799; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 60.2. 

State: Louisiana; 
Vacancies 2010: 236,621; 
Vacancies 2000: 191,128; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 23.8. 

State: Maryland; 
Vacancies 2010: 222,403; 
Vacancies 2000: 164,424; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 35.3. 

State: Kentucky; 
Vacancies 2010: 207,199; 
Vacancies 2000: 160,280; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 29.3. 

State: Oklahoma; 
Vacancies 2010: 203,928; 
Vacancies 2000: 172,107; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 18.5. 

State: Arkansas; 
Vacancies 2010: 169,215; 
Vacancies 2000: 130,347; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 29.8. 

State: Nevada; 
Vacancies 2010: 167,564; 
Vacancies 2000: 76,292; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 119.6. 

State: Maine; 
Vacancies 2010: 164,611; 
Vacancies 2000: 133,701; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 23.1. 

State: Mississippi; 
Vacancies 2010: 158,951; 
Vacancies 2000: 115,519; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 37.6. 

State: Oregon; 
Vacancies 2010: 156,624; 
Vacancies 2000: 118,986; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 31.6. 

State: Kansas; 
Vacancies 2010: 121,119; 
Vacancies 2000: 93,309; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 29.8. 

State: West Virginia; 
Vacancies 2010: 118,086; 
Vacancies 2000: 108,142; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 9.2. 

State: Connecticut; 
Vacancies 2010: 116,804; 
Vacancies 2000: 84,305; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 38.5. 

State: Iowa; 
Vacancies 2010: 114,841; 
Vacancies 2000: 83,235; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 38.0. 

State: New Mexico; 
Vacancies 2010: 109,993; 
Vacancies 2000: 102,608; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 7.2. 

State: Utah; 
Vacancies 2010: 102,017; 
Vacancies 2000: 67,313; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 51.6. 

State: New Hampshire; 
Vacancies 2010: 95,781; 
Vacancies 2000: 72,418; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 32.3. 

State: Idaho; 
Vacancies 2010: 88,388; 
Vacancies 2000: 58,179; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 51.9. 

State: Nebraska; 
Vacancies 2010: 75,663; 
Vacancies 2000: 56,484; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 34.0. 

State: Montana; 
Vacancies 2010: 73,218; 
Vacancies 2000: 53,966; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 35.7. 

State: Vermont; 
Vacancies 2010: 66,097; 
Vacancies 2000: 53,748; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 23.0. 

State: Hawaii; 
Vacancies 2010: 64,170; 
Vacancies 2000: 57,302; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 12.0. 

State: Delaware; 
Vacancies 2010: 63,588; 
Vacancies 2000: 44,336; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 43.4. 

State: Rhode Island; 
Vacancies 2010: 49,788; 
Vacancies 2000: 31,413; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 58.5. 

State: Alaska; 
Vacancies 2010: 48,909; 
Vacancies 2000: 39,378; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 24.2. 

State: South Dakota; 
Vacancies 2010: 41,156; 
Vacancies 2000: 32,963; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 24.9. 

State: North Dakota; 
Vacancies 2010: 36,306; 
Vacancies 2000: 32,525; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 11.6. 

State: Wyoming; 
Vacancies 2010: 34,989; 
Vacancies 2000: 30,246; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 15.7. 

State: District of Columbia; 
Vacancies 2010: 30,012; 
Vacancies 2000: 26,507; 
Percent change 2000-2010: 13.2. 

Sources: Census 2000 and 2010 data. 

[End of table] 

[End of section] 

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of the Treasury: 

Department of the Treasury: 
Assistant Secretary: 
Washington, DC 20220: 

October 31, 2011: 

Matt Scirè: 
Director: 
Financial Markets and Community Investment: 
U.S. Government Accountability Office: 
441 G Street, NW: 
Washington, DC 20548: 

Dear Mr. Scirè: 

The Department of the Treasury ("Treasury") appreciates the 
opportunity to review and comment on your draft report titled, Vacant 
Properties, Growing Number Increases Communities' Costs and Challenges 
("Draft Report"). 

The Draft Report is informative and helpful in describing the extent 
of vacant properties and the impact of these properties on state and 
local economies, including the costs to local governments, such as for 
police and fire services. One of the strategies proposed in the Draft 
Report is to require servicers to include these costs in their 
decision-making model when deciding whether to modify a loan or 
foreclose on it. As noted in the Draft Report, there are certain 
challenges associated with holding servicers accountable for such 
costs. We agree that as we continue to develop appropriate responses 
and policies to deal with the housing crisis, these are important 
questions that need to be analyzed by federal, state and local 
agencies, as well as by community groups and investors and servicers 
in the mortgage industry. 

Treasury appreciates your attention to this important matter. 

Sincerely, 

Signed by: 

Timothy G. Massad: 
Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability: 

[End of section] 

Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

GAO Contact: 

Mathew J. Scirè, (202) 512-8678, or sciremj@gao.gov: 

Staff Acknowledgments: 

In addition to the individual named above, Cody Goebel, Assistant 
Director; Rachel DeMarcus; Catherine Gelb; Kristeen McLain; Marc 
Molino; Jill Naamane; Linda Rego; Jennifer Schwartz; Andrew Stavisky; 
Cynthia S. Taylor; Jeff Tessin; James Vitarello; and Monique Williams 
made key contributions to this report. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] In this report, we generally refer to vacant properties as 
properties with unoccupied structures on them. 

[2] The Troubled Asset Relief Program was authorized by the Emergency 
Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Pub. L. No. 110-343, 122 Stat. 
3765 (2008), codified at 12 U.S.C. §§ 5201 et seq. 

[3] The first phase of this program, NSP 1, was authorized by the 
Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-289, 122 
Stat. 2654 (2008), which provided $3.92 billion in grant funds. The 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-5, 123 
Stat. 115 (2009) provided an additional $2 billion in NSP funds 
(referred to as NSP 2) and changed several aspects of the program. 
Later, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Pub. L. No. 
111-203, 124 Stat. 1376 (2010) (Dodd-Frank Act), provided an 
additional $1 billion in funding for the program (referred to as NSP 
3). 

[4] A "holder" "is a person who has legal possession of a negotiable 
instrument and is entitled to receive payment on it." Black's Law 
Dictionary (9th ed., 2009). 

[5] Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac share a primary mission that has been 
to stabilize and assist the U.S. secondary mortgage market and 
facilitate the flow of mortgage credit. To accomplish this goal, the 
enterprises issue debt and stock and use the proceeds to purchase 
conventional mortgages that meet their underwriting standards, known 
as conforming mortgages, from primary mortgage lenders such as banks 
or thrifts. The enterprises hold some of the mortgages that they 
purchase in their portfolios. However, most of the mortgages are 
packaged into mortgage-backed securities, which are sold to investors 
in the secondary mortgage market. In September 2008, FHFA placed 
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship out of concern that 
their deteriorating financial condition threatened the stability of 
financial markets. 

[6] The FHA single-family mortgage insurance program insures private 
lenders against losses from borrower defaults on mortgages that meet 
FHA criteria. To support the program, FHA imposes up-front and annual 
mortgage insurance premiums on home buyers. Similarly, the Department 
of Veterans Affairs guaranty program allows mortgage lenders to extend 
loans to eligible veterans on favorable terms and provides lenders 
with substantial financial protections against the losses associated 
with extending such mortgages. 

[7] A short sale is a foreclosure alternative where the lender agrees 
to accept proceeds from the sale of the home to a third party even 
though the sales prices is less than the principal and accrued 
interest and other expenses owed. 

[8] According to a GSE representative, if a property is still occupied 
after the foreclosure sale and any redemption period are complete, 
servicers or entities working on behalf of the GSEs may assess the 
occupant for a rental program while the property is being marketed for 
sale or offer relocation assistance payments for the occupant's 
voluntary cooperation in vacating the property. 

[9] 12 U.S.C. § 1813(q). 

[10] "Federal consumer financial law" is a defined term in the Dodd-
Frank Act that includes over a dozen existing federal consumer 
protection laws, including the Truth in Lending Act, the Real Estate 
Settlement Procedures Act, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, as 
well as title X of the Dodd-Frank Act itself. 12 U.S.C. § 5481(12), 
(14). 

[11] Other federal data collection efforts that include vacant 
property data are the Census/HUD American Housing Survey and the 
Current Population Survey/Housing Vacancy Survey, but these surveys 
did not collect the data at the geographic level or at the sample size 
needed for our study. 

[12] See GAO, 2010 Census: Data Collection Operations Were Generally 
Completed as Planned, but Long-standing Challenges Suggest Need for 
Fundamental Reforms, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-193] (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 14, 
2010). 

[13] Various entities define the term "vacant" differently. For 
example, the decennial census defines a vacant housing unit as one in 
which no one is living on Census Day. The USPS defines a vacant 
address as an unoccupied address where mail has not been deliverable 
for 90 days or longer. One nongovernmental organization defined a 
vacant property as a site that poses a threat to public safety or one 
that owners neglect. Baltimore city's building code defines "vacant" 
as "an unoccupied structure that is unsafe or unfit for human 
habitation or other authorized use." (Building, Fire, and Related 
Codes of Baltimore City, Part II, §116.4.1, 2011, as last amended by 
Ord. 11-419). 

[14] Census 2010 and USPS data also do not distinguish between single-
family and multifamily residential units. 

[15] Census officials also stated that some properties, which the 
enumerators determined were "uninhabitable," were deleted from the 
Census data on the national housing stock and were not counted as 
housing units. As a result, they were not categorized as either 
occupied or vacant. These properties generally were those that were 
severely deteriorated and were unlikely ever to be reoccupied, 
according to Census officials. 

[16] Our estimates of nonseasonal vacant units exclude vacant 
properties for seasonal use or for use by migrant workers because 
these are occupied for temporary periods of time, and we concluded 
that such properties are likely to be maintained. The total number of 
vacant properties in the United States, including all vacant 
properties identified in the Census data, increased 44 percent between 
2000 and 2010, from 10 million to almost 15 million. See appendix II 
for more details about the Census data. 

[17] We compared the estimates from the 2010 Census data with USPS 
data on counts of vacant addresses by state for the second quarter of 
2010. We found that 9 of the 10 states with the largest number of 
vacant addresses according to the USPS data were also among the 10 
states with the largest number of nonseasonal vacant housing units in 
the 2010 Census data. Various reasons may explain why the USPS and 
Census data differ somewhat, including that the Census data includes 
short-term vacant properties that are for rent or for sale, while the 
USPS data includes only addresses where mail has not been deliverable 
for 90 days or longer. 

[18] Census vacancy data are also available at the level of individual 
street blocks. 

[19] As an additional way to assess the level of economic distress in 
localities, we analyzed ACS data for the 9 cities we studied for the 
period 2005 through 2009 (2010 poverty data were not yet available at 
the time we undertook this analysis) to identify the percentage of 
households in a given census tract with annual incomes below the 
appropriate poverty threshold for that household size and composition 
as defined by the Census Bureau. 

[20] GAO, Mortgage Foreclosures: Additional Mortgage Servicer Actions 
Could Help Reduce the Frequency and Impact of Abandoned Foreclosures, 
GAO-11-93 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 15, 2010). 

[21] This estimate was developed by a local housing research 
organization using data from the city's database. 

[22] To calculate its estimate of vacant, abandoned properties, the 
department used information including code enforcement orders for 
boarding up of vacant properties, relevant police and arson reports, 
undelivered mail, and property and tax information from the county 
land records. 

[23] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-93]. 

[24] Woodstock Institute, Left Behind: Troubled Foreclosed Properties 
and Servicer Accountability in Chicago (Chicago, IL, January 2011). 

[25] According to HUD, as of July 2008, 25 states used a nonjudicial 
process as their normal method of foreclosure, 19 states use judicial, 
and 6 states use both. See GAO-11-93 for more information about these 
different processes. 

[26] The Post-Foreclosure Experience of U.S. Households. Raven Molloy 
and Hui Shan. Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C. May 2011. 

[27] James H. Carr and Michelle Mulcahey, Rebuilding Communities in 
Economic Distress: Local strategies to Sustain Homeownership, Reclaim 
Vacant Properties, and Promote Community-Based Employment. National 
Community Reinvestment Coalition (Washington, D.C.: October 2010). 

[28] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-433]. 

[29] Stephan Whitaker, Economic Commentary: Foreclosure-Related 
Vacancy Rates. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, July 26, 2011. 

[30] CoreLogic, U.S. Housing and Mortgage Trends (February 2011). 

[31] As we have previously reported, house price appreciation or 
depreciation in a geographic area is commonly measured by changes in a 
house price index. See GAO, Loan Performance and Negative Home Equity 
in the Nonprime Mortgage Market, GAO-10-146R (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 
16, 2009). 

[32] The two indexes are the FHFA and S&P/Case-Shiller indexes. The 
FHFA index, which consists of separate indexes for 384 metropolitan 
areas, is based on sales and appraisal data for properties with 
mortgages purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac 
(conforming mortgages). To be eligible for purchase by these entities, 
loans (and borrowers receiving the loans) must meet specified 
requirements. The S&P/Case-Shiller national index, which is a 
composite of separate indexes for the nine regional Census divisions, 
is based on sales data for homes purchased with both conforming and 
nonconforming mortgages. 

[33] Maureen F. Maitland and David M. Blitzer. S&P/Case-Shiller Home 
Price Indices 2010, A Year In Review. January 2011. 

[34] Joint Center for Housing Studies, State of the Nation's Housing, 
2011. Harvard University. 

[35] The International Code Council is an association to help the 
building safety community and construction industry provide safe, 
sustainable and affordable construction through the development of 
codes and standards used in the design, build and compliance process. 
According to the International Code Council, 50 states and the 
District of Columbia have adopted these codes at the state or 
jurisdictional level. 

[36] Local homeowners' associations also may have their own 
maintenance standards that property owners must follow and the 
associations or surrounding residents within a neighborhood sometimes 
expend resources on maintenance activities such as mowing lawns or 
removing trash when properties are left unattended. 

[37] Securitization trusts have another entity that acts as trustee. 
Trustees keep records and receive mortgage payments from servicers and 
disperse them among investors according to the terms of the pooling 
and servicing agreement. In addition, trustees are the legal owners of 
record of the mortgage loans on behalf of the trust. Mortgage 
servicers administer the loans underlying mortgage-backed securities 
under contractual agreements with the securitization trustee, which 
acts on behalf of the owners of the securitization trust's securities. 
Any legal action a servicer takes on behalf of the trust, such as 
foreclosure, generally may be brought in the name of the trustee. 

[38] Certain loans may be required to have private mortgage insurance, 
which covers a lender for certain losses related to the potential 
default of the loan. Insurance claims from private mortgage insurers 
may also include reimbursement to servicers for property maintenance 
expenses. 

[39] According to HUD preservation and protection guidelines, at the 
time of conveyance to HUD, a property must be undamaged by fire, 
flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, or mortgagee neglect, as set 
forth in and required by 24 C.F.R. §203.378. For condominiums that 
were secured by mortgages insured under §234 of the National Housing 
Act, the property must also be undamaged by boiler explosion, as 
required by 24 C.F.R. § 234.270. In addition, the property must be 
secured, the lawn maintained, winterized (as applicable), and interior 
and exterior debris must be removed with the property's interior 
maintained in broom-swept condition. This includes the removal of any 
vehicles and removal of any personal property in accordance with local 
and state requirements. 

[40] The data from FHA did not specify categories of expenses during 
the foreclosure period. 

[41] These figures may include costs for both vacant and occupied 
properties. GSE representatives told us that between 50 percent and 60 
percent of properties are vacant at the start of the postforeclosure 
sale period, but by the end of the period all properties are vacant or 
an REO purchaser has agree to purchase the property while it is 
occupied. 

[42] According to one industry participant's study, pooling and 
servicing agreements typically direct servicers to manage and dispose 
of REO properties according to any specific contractual requirements 
in the agreement, generally accepted servicing practices, and the 
requirements of local laws and regulations. Stergios Theologides, 
Servicing REO Properties: The Servicer's Role and Incentives, REO & 
Vacant Properties, Strategies for Neighborhood Stabilization, a joint 
publication of the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and Cleveland and 
the Federal Reserve Board (Sept. 1, 2010). 

[43] For example, according to staff from a property maintenance 
company, certain states may require servicers to obtain a court order 
before accessing a property in foreclosure or during the redemption 
period or they would be subject to trespassing. 

[44] Representatives of one large servicer told us that as of July 
2011, the company changed its policy to continue maintaining such 
properties in the interest of neighborhood stabilization. 

[45] See GAO-11-93. We noted in this report that the vast majority of 
abandoned foreclosures were loans that involved third-party investors 
and private label mortgage-backed securities. GSE-purchased loans 
account for a very small portion of our estimated number of abandoned 
foreclosures. Similarly, we found only about 0.3 percent of abandoned 
foreclosures were associated with FHA, VA, or Ginnie Mae insured loans. 

[46] Woodstock Institute, Left Behind. 

[47] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-93]. 

[48] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-93]. 

[49] See, for example, William C. Apgar, Mark Duda, and Rochelle 
Nawrocki Gorey, The Municipal Cost of Foreclosures: A Chicago Case 
Study, Housing Finance Policy Research Paper 2005-1, Homeownership 
Preservation Foundation (Minneapolis, Minn.: 2005); Christiana 
McFarland, Casey Dawkins, and C. Theodore (Ted) Koebel, "Local Housing 
Conditions and Contexts: A Framework for Policy Making" (Washington: 
National League of Cities, 2007); and Dan Immergluck and Geoff Smith, 
"The Impact of Single-family Mortgage Foreclosures on Neighborhood 
Crime," Housing Studies 21, no. 6 (2006): 851-866. 

[50] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-93]. 

[51] See, for example, Brian A. Mikelbank, "Spatial Analysis of the 
Impact of Vacant, Abandoned and Foreclosed Properties," study 
conducted for the Office of Community Affairs, Federal Reserve Bank of 
Cleveland, 2008; and Kai-yan Lee, "Foreclosure's Price-Depressing 
Spillover Effects on Local Properties: A Literature Review," Community 
Affairs Discussion Paper, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (Boston: 
2008). Each of the studies we reviewed focused on specific geographic 
locations, so their results cannot be generalized to the state level 
or the country as a whole. The studies also each also use data from 
different time periods and use different approaches. 

[52] Kai-yan Lee. 

[53] William C. Apgar, Mark Duda, and Rochelle Nawrocki Gorey. 

[54] Stephan Whitaker and Thomas J. Fitzpatrick IV. The Impact of 
Vacant, Tax-Delinquent, and Foreclosed Property on Sales Prices of 
Neighboring Homes. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, September 2011. 

[55] Brian A. Mikelbank. This study looked at the impact on sales 
price separating the effect of foreclosed properties and 
vacant/abandoned properties, and also accounting for neighborhood 
characteristics that could otherwise have distorted the results. The 
study also noted that the vacant properties were located close to the 
center of Columbus, Ohio, whereas the foreclosed properties were 
distributed more widely across the city. 

[56] Nigel G. Griswold and Patricia E. Norris, Economic Impacts of 
Residential Property Abandonment and the Genesee County Land Bank in 
Flint, Michigan. Report #2007-05, MSU Land Policy Institute, (Lansing, 
MI: April 2007). 

[57] Christopher W. Hoene and Michael A. Pagano, Research Brief on 
America's Cities, September 2011. National League of Cities. The 
National League of Cities works in a partnership with 49 state 
municipal leagues and serves as a resource to and an advocate for the 
more than 19,000 cities, villages, and towns it represents. 

[58] The report notes that a downturn in real estate prices may not be 
noticed for one to several years after an economic downturn began 
because property tax assessment cycles vary across jurisdictions: some 
reassess property annually, while others reassess every few years. 

[59] See Frank Alexander, "Tax Liens, Tax Sales, and Due Process," 75 
Ind. L. J. 747 (2000). Vacant, abandoned properties with unpaid taxes 
may go through the jurisdiction's tax foreclosure processes. These 
processes generally take the form of either property auctions or sales 
of the outstanding tax liens to private entities. The purchasers of 
tax liens may not pay property taxes in subsequent years or adequately 
maintain the property. 

[60] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-93]. 

[61] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-93]. 

[62] Officials in the city of Tucson stated that their revenues depend 
largely on sales taxes, though sales tax revenue has also declined as 
a result of the recent poor economic conditions. 

[63] Community Research Partners, $60 Million and Counting: The cost 
of vacant and abandoned properties to eight Ohio cities (Columbus, OH: 
Feb. 2008). The study reviewed the magnitude and cost of vacant and 
abandoned properties in eight Ohio cities--Cleveland, Columbus, 
Dayton, Ironton, Lima, Springfield, Toledo, and Zanesville--and found 
$49 million in cumulative lost property tax revenues to these local 
governments and school districts. 

[64] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-146R]. 

[65] While not a focus of this report, most of these localities are 
also engaged in foreclosure mitigation and prevention strategies. 

[66] Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., Market Data-Driven 
Stabilization: A Case Study of Cleveland's NEO CANDO Data System 
(Washington, D.C.: 2010). 

[67] The Trust is a national nonprofit organization formed in 2008 by 
four national organizations in the housing and community development 
field--Enterprise Community Partners, Housing Partnership Network, 
Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and NeighborWorks America. 
These four founding organizations were soon joined by the National 
Urban League and the National Council of La Raza as prominent sponsors 
of the Trust. 

[68] Daniel Fleischman, Nonprofit Strategies for Returning REO 
Properties to Effective Use, REO & Vacant Properties, Strategies for 
Neighborhood Stabilization, a joint publication of the Federal Reserve 
Banks of Boston and Cleveland and the Federal Reserve Board (Sept. 1, 
2010). 

[69] In a recent speech, Elizabeth Duke, Member of the Board of 
Governors of the Federal Reserve System noted that, in some cases, 
properties are too damaged, or otherwise too low-value, to be sold as 
owner-occupied units or profitably converted to rental properties. She 
said that the Federal Reserve estimates about 5 percent of properties 
in the REO inventory of FHA and the GSEs are valued at less than 
$20,000. See Federal Reserve Board Policy Forum: The Housing Market 
Going Forward, Lessons Learned from the Recent Crisis (Washington, 
D.C.: Sept. 1, 2011). 

[70] Specifically, the study estimated that property values increased 
between $117 and $50,000 per property. Nigel G. Griswold and Patricia 
E. Norris. 

[71] Stephan Whitaker and Thomas J. Fitzpatrick IV. 

[72] The specific order in which liens must be paid in the event of 
foreclosure or sale varies depending on the jurisdiction. 

[73] GAO-11-93. 

[74] Chicago, Ill, Municipal Code § 13-12-125, 135. 

[75] See N.J. Stat. Ann. § 46:10B-51 (2010). The New Jersey 
requirements were included in the Mortgage Stabilization and Relief 
Act, 2008 N.J. Sess. Law Serv. Ch. 127 (West) and amended by the New 
Jersey Foreclosure Fairness Act, 2009 N.J. Sess. Law Serv. Ch. 296 
(West). See N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 1307 (2010). The New York 
requirements were effective April 14, 2010. 

[76] Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-38-901, et seq., which was effective as of 
August 1, 2010, authorizes an expedited foreclosure sale procedure if 
the mortgagee can document that the property is abandoned (vacant). A 
signed affidavit that is based upon the personal knowledge of the 
noteholder, their agent, the sheriff of the county in which the 
property is located, or a building inspector, or other municipal or 
county official having jurisdiction over the property is prima facie 
evidence of abandonment. The affidavit should state that the property 
is not actually occupied and that the signer has inspected the 
property more than once and each time determined that the property is 
abandoned and that at least two of the following facts exist: (1) 
windows or entrances to the property are boarded up or closed off, or 
multiple window panes are broken and unrepaired; (2) doors to the 
property are smashed through, broken off, unhinged or continuously 
unlocked; (3) gas, electric, and water service to the property have 
been terminated for a period of at least 30 days; (4) the police or 
sheriff's office has received at least two reports of trespassers on 
the property, or of vandalism or other illegal acts being committed on 
the property; or (5) the property is deteriorating and is either below 
or is in imminent danger of falling below minimum local government 
standards for public safety and sanitation. The affidavit must also be 
accompanied by photographic or other documentary evidence such as 
police reports demonstrating of the cited conditions. The procedure is 
not applicable to judicial foreclosures. 

[77] The judge we spoke with in Chicago told us that the city 
established the housing court under its home rule authority granted to 
it by the state of Illinois. 

[78] The results of the model are not the only factor determining 
whether a borrower will receive a loan modification. For example, 
borrowers might not be interested in a loan modification, even if 
approved. 

[79] Bob Winthrop and Rebecca Herr, Determining the Cost of Vacancies 
in Baltimore, Government Finance Review (June 2009). 

[80] Alan Mallach, REO Properties, Housing Markets, and the Shadow 
Inventory, REO and Vacant Properties, Strategies for Neighborhood 
Stabilization, a joint publication of the Federal Reserve Banks of 
Boston and Cleveland and the Federal Reserve Board (Sept. 1, 2010). 

[81] The HAMP decision-making model--called the net present value 
(NPV) model--was developed by an interagency working group made up of 
officials from FDIC, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHFA, and Treasury. 
Servicers participating in HAMP use this model to decide whether to 
modify a loan. Servicers with at least a $40 billion servicing book 
may customize the NPV model for use in HAMP, but they must use 
standard model inputs for certain variables. Some servicers have also 
developed their own models to analyze borrowers' eligibility for their 
own proprietary modification programs if they are not eligible for 
HAMP. They told us that their proprietary models generally used 
similar inputs as the HAMP NPV model. 

[82] As outlined in the March 4, 2009, program guidelines, HAMP's 
eligibility requirements stipulate that (1) the property must be owner-
occupied and the borrower's primary residence (the program excludes 
vacant and investor-owned properties); (2) the property must be a 
single-family (1-4 unit) property with a maximum unpaid principal 
balance on the unmodified first-lien mortgage that is equal to or less 
than $729,750 for a 1-unit property; (3) the loans must have been 
originated on or before January 1, 2009; and (4) the first-lien 
mortgage payment must be more than 31 percent of the homeowner's gross 
monthly income. 

[83] A HUD official explained how the agency's technical assistance 
has helped local officials analyze their local markets and adjust 
their strategies for spending NSP funds on programs that would be most 
effective. HUD has recently revised its NSP technical assistance 
efforts to better target spending to communities that need it the most 
and has developed Web-based resources for all NSP grantees. HUD also 
plans to launch a similar strategy for its other grant programs that 
is aimed at improving the capacity of local governments, especially in 
economically distressed cities. 

[84] Pub. L. No. 111-5, 123 Stat. 115 (2009). 

[85] GAO, Troubled Asset Relief Program: Treasury Actions Needed to 
Make the Home Affordable Modification Program More Transparent and 
Accountable, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-837] 
(Washington, D.C.: July 23, 2009). Treasury has begun implementing 
several other programs for struggling homeowners, including the Second-
Lien Modification Program, the Principal Reduction Alternative program 
for borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than the value of their 
homes, and the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program for 
those who are not successful in HAMP modifications. However, we 
reported that Treasury's progress in implementing these programs has 
been slow. See Troubled Asset Relief Program: Treasury Continues to 
Face Implementation Challenges and Data Weaknesses in Its Making Home 
Affordable Program, GAO-11-288 (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 17, 2011). As 
of July 2011, Treasury reported that there were 9,221 active Principal 
Reduction Alternative permanent modifications. See Making Home 
Affordable, Program Performance Report Through July 2011 found at 
[hyperlink, http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/financial-
stability/results/MHA-Reports/Pages/default.aspx]. 

[86] Section 304 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 
Improvement Act of 1991 requires the federal banking agencies to 
prescribe uniform real estate lending standards. 12 U.S.C. § 1828(o). 
The standards established by the federal banking regulators require 
every depository institution to establish and maintain comprehensive, 
written real estate lending policies that are consistent with safe and 
sound banking practices and appropriate to the size of the institution 
and nature and scope of its operations. The lending policies must 
establish loan portfolio diversification standards; prudent 
underwriting standards; loan administration procedures for the bank's 
real estate portfolio; and documentation, approval, and reporting 
requirements to monitor compliance with the bank's real estate lending 
policies. OCC (12 C.F.R. Part 34, subpart D), Federal Reserve (12 
C.F.R. Part 208, subpart E), FDIC (12 C.F.R. Part 365). 

[87] Section 39 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1831p--
1) requires that each bank regulator establish certain safety and 
soundness standards by regulation or guideline. For the OCC, these 
regulations appear at 12 C.F.R. Part 30; for the Federal Reserve, 
these regulations appear at 12 C.F.R. 208.3(d)(1); for FDIC, these 
regulations appear at 12 C.F.R. Part 364, Appendix A. 

[88] Because mortgage servicers generally manage loans that are 
actually owned or held by other entities, they are not exposed to 
significant losses if the loans become delinquent. In addition, we 
have previously reported that the percentage of loans in foreclosure 
was historically very low (less than 1 percent) from 1979 to 2006. 

[89] 12 U.S.C. § 29; 12 C.F.R. § 34.82(a). According to regulatory 
officials, various state laws that apply to certain institutions may 
have longer or shorter limits on holding REO properties. 

[90] Beginning in September 2010, several servicers announced that 
they were halting or reviewing their foreclosure proceedings 
throughout the country after allegations that the documents 
accompanying judicial foreclosures may have been inappropriately 
signed or notarized. For more information about this issue, see GAO, 
Mortgage Foreclosures: Documentation Problems Reveal Need for Ongoing 
Regulatory Oversight, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-433] (Washington, D.C.: May 2, 
2011). 

[91] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-433]. 

[92] According to a GSE representative, the GSEs are required to 
establish appropriate incentives to encourage and support servicer 
contact with borrowers in the early stages of delinquency, consistent 
timelines and requirements for communications with borrowers, 
incentive structures for early engagement, and updated foreclosure 
process timelines. The representative also noted that the work will 
include consideration of appropriate penalties to encourage efficient 
resolution and liquidation of properties in cases where foreclosure is 
necessary. 

[93] For example, analysts at Credit Suisse estimate that reducing 
Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's foreclosed-property sales to around 
30,000 each month, from the current rate of 50,000, would cut total 
distressed sales and avoid a further 3 percent to 5 percent decline in 
home prices. In addition, according to an analyst with Zelman & 
Associates, an industry research and analysis firm, the number of 
single-family rental households has increased nationwide in the last 
several years, especially in markets hard-hit by foreclosures. 

[94] GAO, Troubled Asset Relief Program: Home Affordable Modification 
Program Continues to Face Implementation Challenges, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-556T] (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 25, 
2010). We also have ongoing work reviewing Treasury's recent steps 
regarding assessing servicers' program performance. 

[95] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-556T]. 

[96] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-93] and 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-193. 

[97] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-433]. 

[98] The Census American Community Survey (ACS) is a survey of 3 
million households that takes place throughout the year that includes 
information on residential housing vacancies and poverty, among other 
data. The ACS data are reported on an annual basis and are also 
aggregated into 3-year and 5-year datasets. 

[End of section] 

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