Philadelphia RDA Tackles Blight

From the Inquirer today, Redevelopment Authority tackles blight a house at a time.  A quick summary below:

 The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority is using $20 million from Uncle Sam to acquire vacant or foreclosed homes, rehabbing them and selling them to qualified buyers, trying stabilize neighborhoods and create jobs in the process.  Of the 36 houses acquired thus far, five have been sold and 31 are being rehabbed. The funding came from Washington in January 2009.

I believe the RDA is the second largest property tax delinquent owner in the city, after the city itself. The city should not be in the business of being a real estate developer. The RDA needs to sell/auction their large list of blighted inventory for sale to the highest bidder.  Most of these bidders would be real estate investors or developers who know how to quickly take an ugly house, rehab it, and sell to a buyer.  The city would benefit from the additional the real estate taxes actually paid and the transfer taxes for additional sales.

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