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By Erik Hare

Every city in the world has its problems. While we have a good life in Saint Paul, in the end its how we deal with the unfortunate circumstances that happen around us is the best way to really understand what we are about.

A constant issue in any city are the “problem properties”. These are the houses, usually rental but not always, which seem to cause the most problems for the neighbors around them. Repeated nights filled with the disco lights of police calls wear down on those citizens simply trying to get a good night’s sleep, and eventually it is time to step in.

Too many police calls in Saint Paul get you an inspection. If the property is found to not be up to code, it may be declared uninhabitable. Through this process, or a foreclosure or tax forfeiture, a house may wind up vacant. If it stands that way too long, it is posted as a registered vacant property. That’s when the “Summary Abatement” process starts in earnest.

A vacant property gets attention right up to the City Council. The owner has to work out a plan for fixing the problems and getting the house back on the market. If they fail to do this, the property can eventually be torn down at the owner’s expense. So far this year, eleven properties have met this fate, the same as in all of last year.

While a nuisance property is a problem, an empty lot is not a lot better. Owners are usually given as much latitude as possible to fix up a property, and those returned to a mortgage holder are often picked up by the neighborhood groups for rehab. No one really wants to see houses torn down, but the threat of doing so is an important motivator.

Naturally, a number of landlords who have had this happen to them are furious. There is a rich and vigorous debate going on right now about how to handle the situation. The City, sadly, can only take action with the tools it has, and these are the codes. Houses always bear the brunt of hard economic times, and neighborhoods are inevitably nothing more than the sum of all the houses in them.

Is there a better way to do this? I hope there is. I’m very glad that Saint Paul is very much on top of the nuisance properties that otherwise make life difficult for everyone. But I hate seeing the houses have to carry that load, and landlords can reasonably say that is not them but the renters that cause the problems in the first place. We will work this out.