Post-Dispatch Continues Series On Vacant St. Louis Properties

ST. LOUIS, MO — There are more than 25,000 abandoned properties in St. Louis, and the city's land bank, the Land Reutilization Authority, owns half of them, according to an ongoing series of reports from the Post-Dispatch.

Those properties are dangerous and attract crime, say people living next door. But the city can't afford to maintain them or tear them down, and it can't seem to sell them, either. As the LRA's funds have been cut, so too have they acquired even more properties — more than 500 a year.

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A plan to sell vacant homes for just $1 has led to regulatory roadblocks at the state level and worries that selling off properties to others who also can't maintain them will just amount to rearranging the deck chairs, so to speak.

Read more from the Post-Dispatch's ongoing series:

LRA owns the 12,000 St. Louis properties no one wants. And it can't afford to maintain them.

St. Louis struggles to keep up with rising tide of broken, abandoned buildings

Caught on camera: Look who the city nailed when it went after illegal dumpers

St. Louis residents, fed up with city's dumping problem, want action

Caught on camera: Look who the city nailed when it went after illegal dumpers

Photo: Abandoned homes on Page Boulevard featuring portraits of local African American leaders by artist Christopher Green. (J. Ryne Danielson/Patch)