Why are there so many vacant lots if we are having a housing crisis?

Why are there so many vacant lots if we are having a housing crisis?
Vacant lots may have back taxes, unpaid water bill, and other hurdles associated with them which makes them unattractive for development.
There are tens of thousands of empty residential lots in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere.
Cities are trying to remove legal and government obstacles to developing vacant lots.
Vacant lots depress property values and property tax revenue, as well as attract crime.
Former industrial hubs have led to declining populations and job losses in big-cities.
Out of date government policies further exacerbated the decline of cities and lead the housing market to further deteriorate.
Two elements lead to a downward housing spiral:
1. Laws to resolve unpaid tax bills are cumbersome and make vacant lots unattractive to developers.
2. Cheap tax assessment on vacant lots encourage owners to keep them off the market.
Detroit
The population of Detroit has fallen by two-thirds since the 1950s. There are 30,000 neglected vacant lots in Detroit that are held by owners that pay almost no taxes. An additional 63,000 vacant lots are held by the Detroit land bank. Therefore, in total, you have 93,000 vacant lots.
Detroit officials want to triple property-tax rates on vacant land while simultaneously reducing rates for homeowners by an average of 30%. There is no city tax reform that is going to fix a problem that widespread. The truth is that if there was demand for Detroit housing, you would see all sorts of unsavory real estate developers and businessman coming in and gobbling up the lots. We need to be honest that Detroit was mismanaged for decades. City government should have seen the writing on the wall the industry and manufacturing was leaving the United States for very reasons including NAFTA. The vacant lot problem in Detroit will only be solved when demand increases for residential properties.
Pittsburg:
Pittsburg is considering measures to transfer 13,000 city-owned lots and vacant properties to a municipal land bank, and then into the hands of developers and nonprofits. From what I’ve read, there is squabbling because people are concerned that luxury apartments and condos will be built. However, given the population of Pittsburg has halved since its peak in the 1950s, I do not think beggars can be choosers. Pittsburg is facing major challenges, and any developed on vacant lots is good development in my book. We’ve previously discussed whether luxury residences actually help decrease housing costs. Basically, these residences are adding supply to the high end part of the spectrum, without adding supply to the middle part of the spectrum. The issue is that it is not profitable to build low end apartments and condos, so people are largely stuck with older buildings unless the government is willing to heavily subsidize the development.
Chicago:
The population of Chicago has fallen by about a quarter since the 1950s. The city currently has 10,000 city-owned vacant lots. 16,634 are in a legal limbo of back taxes and unpaid fees. Cook County, which contains Chicago, tries to sell properties with tax-liens at an auction called the “Scavenger Sale.” Only 8% of the properties in the auction went to buyers who were able to obtain a clear title.
The governor signed a law to cut interest rates on overdue property taxes from 18% to 9%. Cook County will also be able to automatically acquire tax liens on delinquent properties which will reduce the time it takes to clear titles. The success rate of people clearing titles after winning an auction Scavenger Sale should theoretically increase. I am not sure what the negative repercussions of this law could be. Could homeowners lose control of their homes or land faster?
Clearing title to the properties can require dozens of legal steps and several trips to the court. Auction bidders are excused from paying back taxes but they have to allow the landowners to pay the taxes and other bills and fees owed including demolition liens, and water bills.
I am someone from Chicago and have lived in the area by entire life. Let’s be honest about Chicago. A lot of these neighborhoods in the west and south side are undersirable because there is gang activity and no economic opportunity. We need to begin by putting criminals in jail and keep them there. Taxes and regulations must be reduced. Chicago is very hostile towards land lords and people in the real estate industry. We need to expand nuclear power, and other cheap sources of energy. Also, there needs to be tort reform.
Conclusion:
The takeaway7 here is that big government and inefficient, corrupt city governments created a lot of the problems. The solutions mostly involve city government getting out of the way of the private sector and letting people that know business and real estate work in their wheelhouse. The government has subsidized dysfunction behavior and dependency on both a macro level, but also how individuals are interacting and taking advantage of society.
What I see going forward are nice downtowns and city centers, with a lot of luxury residual living and amenities. Then I believe you have a lot of neighborhoods on the outskirts that just get left behind. The decay of some parts of Chicago, and a lot of large cities, is an issue that is going to continue to deteriorate and worsen for the next decade, in my opinion.
Works Cited:
https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/too-many-vacant-lots-not-enough-housing-the-u-s-real-estate-puzzle-2aa19733?mod=hp_lead_pos7
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