Increase in Abandoned Properties in the City of Jackson

The city of Jackson, in addition to being the capital of Mississippi, is the most populous city in the state. However, according to census data, the city currently has a population of 140,613 inhabitants, a significant decrease from the 2020 census, which recorded 152,997 people, and approximately 173,000 in 2010.

Due to this significant population decrease, the city of Jackson has begun to experience major economic and social problems that affect not only the local community but also the state.

One of the most prominent issues resulting from the loss of inhabitants, which greatly harms the administration and the quality of life in the city, is the damage caused by the lack of tax payments. If a city has few people, it will not obtain good revenue collection like more populated areas do. If there are no people, there will be a significant drop in income generated from sales taxes, commercial services, and school operations.

The loss of population generates another relevant conflict that is causing serious problems for both state and local administrations. With this decrease, there has been an increase in abandoned properties in the city. As is known, abandoned properties do not generate taxes on their commercial value and therefore further reduce the income of the city and the county. The commercial value of an abandoned property can only be generated when a private buyer initiates the purchase of that property, as the conditions of the property at the time of sale must obviously be taken into account.

This situation of abandoned properties in the city of Jackson represents approximately one-quarter of the abandoned properties in the state of Mississippi. The cause of this abandonment is due to factors such as difficulties in selling after moving, tenants leaving, foreclosure processes carried out by banks, or the death of the owner.

If, for whatever reason, property taxes on the abandoned property are not paid, the state will eventually take possession of it until it is sold. According to the director of the Public Lands Division, the state of Mississippi has an average of about 7,000 abandoned houses, and 25% of them are in the city of Jackson. Although these figures may be changing due to daily official sales, they are not considered entirely accurate since it can take years for an abandoned property to appear in state records.

For a property to appear in these records, taxes must be owed on it for two years. After this time, and after attempts to notify the owner have failed, the property is put up for sale for the value of the taxes. If no one pays the back taxes, the state assumes ownership of the property.

This entire process, before the state assumes possession of the property, can take about 3 years, approximately. Normally, considering sales records, these abandoned properties are usually sold when auctioned for the value of the taxes. However, in some cases, the sale can take up to six or seven years due to the variety of tax investors.

When the abandoned property cannot be sold for the value of the taxes, and by the time the state takes ownership of the property after some years, they are often already deteriorated and lose even more of their commercial value. Moreover, due to the large number of houses the state owns and the high costs of maintaining them, it is very common and likely that their conditions will worsen over time.

Another major problem generated by the abandonment of properties, which causes a primary concern in Jackson, is the public safety of the city. According to data provided by the administration, 95% of these properties are residential. Because of this, these abandoned homes are constantly affected by a large number of illegal occupants or homeless people who use them as shelters or turn them into places conducive to illegal activities.

In addition to this, the increase in crime, abandoned properties are also often a focus of numerous fires caused by illegal occupants trying to make illegal connections to public services or seeking a way to keep warm, especially in cold weather. When this happens, not only does the property lose much more commercial value, but these places also become dumps and a point of environmental contamination.

Therefore, the administration emphasizes the importance of strengthening public safety so that more investors see the real estate market in the city of Jackson as a good opportunity to grow their income.

Available Foreclosures:

Jackson: 1,800 homes available.

Statewide: 7,000 homes available.

By Elias DaSilva | September 25, 2024