They cause discouragement and despair in a community. They drive down property values and destabilize communities. Under the proposal, in the most serious cases the City could go before a hearing officer or a judge and seek forfeiture of a building that had become a gang or drug house. This could happen only after a forcible felony has been committed on the premises, or two or more drug violations have occurred during a year. Abandoned buildings are frequently used for drug sales and murders, as we have seen recently in the Englewood and Roseland communities.
Occupied buildings can be a problem, as well.
Drug dealers and gang bangers often carry on their illegal activities in these buildings, terrorizing law-abiding tenants in the process. The ordinance gives the City the right to seek eviction of drug dealers from a building if the landlord is unwilling or unable to do so. The City could begin eviction proceedings when there have been two or more drug violations in an apartment within six months. The ordinance would require the owners of the most dangerous slum buildings to come up with a remediation plan or face possible demolition or forfeiture of the building. This would apply to unsecured vacant buildings, buildings with extremely dangerous code violations or vacant buildings where the cost of repairs exceeds the value of the building.