By Keegan Bailey, NCRPC Housing Director
Keegan Bailey
Rural and urban communities have one commonality within their housing stock: vacant properties.
There are many different reasons why structures can be vacant. Vacancies can occur due to foreclosures, inheritance or probate court, vacation-hunting or secondary homes, extensive work needed on the home, and simply beyond useful life. Why is this important? Frankly, each scenario takes away housing from the housing stock.
The longer a house is left vacant, the more probable it is for repairs to go unnoticed and the deterioration of the home to occur. Vacation, hunting, or secondary homes are still paying property taxes and bringing in some revenue a few months out of the year. But for seven to nine months, what revenue is being lost in comparison to if someone lived there full time? Is this where cities should begin to have a higher flat utility rate for those homes that are identified as second homes?
Vacant homes also have an increased need for security to avoid vandalism, trespassing, and maintenance. Should cities begin to look into structural integrity inspections, with more emphasis on health and code enforcement? With any new way of addressing housing needs, there could be resistance, criticism, and even an increase in legal/enforcement action. The biggest question that would need to be answered is how can NCRPC begin to help address the vacant housing issues along with the communities that we serve?
Keegan Bailey has been the Housing Director at NCRPC since 2020 and has been with the organization since 2015.
This article appeared in the Quarter 1 2025 NCRPC Newsletter.
