Blight and poverty are never really a good look for a neighborhood, and aside from statistically raising the crime, it also lessens the value of maintained homes in the area. Here in Kansas City, the neighborhood known as Town Fork Creek is one of these areas transitioning into an undesirable region as more and more homes are boarded up, lawns run overgrown, and houses continually get abandoned. A

side from turning off potential residents from moving into the area, it makes current residents stuck. Vacant homes are breeding grounds for violence, homeless inhabitance, and drug use. The Kansas City movers have learned that the Missouri Abandoned Housing Act will likely come to the neighborhood’s aid to take properties for rehabbing from absentee/irresponsible owners.

In order to be eligible for the group’s assistance, a property has to be vacant for six months, delinquent on property taxes, and be deemed as a nuisance to the community. So far, the agency has made an agreement with Legal Aid of Western Missouri to open 60 cases each year to fight these properties, followed by filing lawsuits in at least 15 cases in an effort to transform blighted neighborhoods in the metro area. There are hundreds of homes already in this state that qualify, so the need to begin the process is urgent.