Across Pennsylvania, there are hundreds of thousands of blighted or abandoned properties that drive down home values and hinder community development. As many residents have experienced, addressing blighted or abandoned properties in their neighborhoods can be a frustrating challenge. In many cases, the solution to problems with blighted or abandoned properties could be solved by identifying the owner of the property. Unfortunately, individuals often struggle to identify or contact the person responsible for maintaining these properties.

To empower community members and facilitate these conversations, we are introducing legislation that would allow the chief assessor of a county to establish and maintain a list of real properties in their community. Contact information for each property would be added to the list when a property owner voluntarily submits their contact information or when the owner of the real property is cited for a violation of a municipal ordinance or code. That information would be collected by the municipality and then provided to the chief assessor.
 
The chief assessor will share the contact information with code enforcement within a municipality to ensure the maintenance and upkeep of all properties.

Please join us in supporting this straightforward yet impactful initiative to help Pennsylvania residents address blighted and abandoned properties in their communities.