Blighted property adjudication and seizure
At a glance
Based on auto-generated captions; names and details may be misheard.
- What: how the city identifies, adjudicates, demolishes and sells blighted properties, and why many remain stuck.
- Where it stands: about 20,000 blighted residential units, 6,500 in tax adjudication, more than 200 demolitions queued and CivicSource litigation blocking sales. A new Central Adjudication Bureau director, Sabre Matheny, began about two weeks earlier.
- Next: Ernest Leger offered a 30-day no-power, no-water analysis; the council wants a public dashboard and a state law giving demolition liens priority.
- Related: Office of Community Development 2027 Budget (adjudicated properties working group).
- Key people: Anthony Davis, Ernest Leger, JP Morrell.
Sources
- 2026-10-08 - City Council Budget Hearings
- 2026-10-08 - City Council Budget Hearings
- 2026-10-19 - City Council Budget Hearings
- 2026-10-19 - City Council Budget Hearings
Discussion time
About 28 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).
| Meeting | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-19 - City Council Budget Hearings | 28 |
Log
- 2026-10-07 - City Council Budget Hearings - Law Department explained constitutional limits on seizing blighted property; liens and lien foreclosure are the tools, with three attorneys assigned and new money for recording liens. See Law Department 2027 Budget.
- 2026-10-19 - City Council Budget Hearings - Council President Morrell pressed on why all properties without power and water are not already liens or demolitions; 30-day analysis offered; contract to sell adjudicated property and CivicSource litigation discussed; dashboard and demolition-lien priority proposed.
- 2026-10-08 - City Council Budget Hearings - The Office of Community Development described a mayor's working group on adjudicated properties, noting over 700 of about 7,800 Lower Ninth Ward parcels are adjudicated to the city. See Office of Community Development 2027 Budget.