Census numbers show increase in vacant housing units in Western Massachusetts; Springfield sees uptick in wake of tornado

The state attorney general this week urged the creation of a state registry to track abandoned buildings.

SPRINGFIELD - Well ahead of the June 1 tornadoes, Springfield and other communities across Massachusetts were hampered by an increased numbers of vacant and abandoned homes, reflecting the effects of a foreclosure crisis and the recession, according to new data from the U.S. Census this spring.

The destruction caused by the storms is now intensifying the problem with vacant housing in Springfield, at least in the short term.

Before the tornadoes struck, the number of Springfield’s vacant residential units, including apartments, condos and single family homes, rose to 4,954 in 2010, up 22 percent from 2000, the census said.

Among other key cities, Worcester’s vacant units jumped to 6,032, up 63 percent, Boston’s rose to 19,782, up 59 percent; Providence’s to 8,812, up 59 percent, and Hartford’s to 6,698, up 18 percent, according to census statistics.

For the state as a whole, the number of vacancies increased by 46 percent since 2000 to 261,179, the census said.

The tornadoes added to the problem.

Some 220 tornado-damaged structures, including 179 single-family homes, have been condemned, meaning they are unsafe for living, according to Geraldine McCafferty, director of housing for the city of Springfield. In all, 500 units were condemned, including 347 rentals, she said. Some will be repaired, but others will need to be demolished, she added.

The tornadoes increased vacant housing in Springfield for now, but they might have the opposite effect in the long run, McCafferty said.

If units are demolished because of the tornadoes, the end result would be fewer units in the city, she said.

“If we lose units but do not lose population, it creates increased demand for units,” she said. “The increased demand could cause owners of currently vacant housing to repair units and put them back into use.”

Reacting to the census numbers, Tina Brooks, undersecretary for the state Department of Housing and Economic Development, said some of the vacant housing is abandoned and undermining neighborhoods. Foreclosures are a significant cause for vacancies, according to Brooks.

“We have been very, very concerned about vacancies for a long time,” she said.

Holyoke is among some Northeast cities, including Rochester, N.Y., and Syracuse, N. Y., that broke the trend and reduced its number of vacant homes, according to the census.

Holyoke used state grants to demolish hundreds of unsafe and abandoned housing units. In the process, the city lowered its number of vacant units from 1,243 in 2000 to 1,023 in 2010, a drop of about 18 percent, the census said.

One member of the Springfield state legislative delegation, Sean F. Curran, D-Springfield, is calling for more demolition of abandoned units in the city. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno has said he agrees but adds that state and federal funding is drying up.

Elsewhere in Western Massachusetts, Chicopee’s vacant residential units increased to 1,401, up 7 percent; Greenfield, 525, up 45 percent; Northampton, 728, up 38 percent; Palmer, 435, up 34 percent; and Westfield, 740, up 15 percent.

Vacant units are not all abandoned; they include some for rent or sale, seasonal units, housing for migrant workers, abandoned units and ones maintained by a caretaker or janitor.

Abandoned, or long term empty, units are included in a category called “all other vacants,” which total 1,626 in Springfield, or 2.6 percent of all residential units, the census said.

The percent of total residential units that are vacant in Springfield was 8 percent in the 2010 census data, up 22 percent from 6.6 percent in 2000.

In a positive sign, Springfield’s home ownership rate, or percent of units that are occupied by owners, is still around 50 percent, the same as in 2000.

Prior to the tornadoes, state leaders and municipal officials were working on several fronts to reduce the problem of abandoned homes and vacant units.

These included: funding to prevent foreclosures and homelessness; code enforcement and legal action to pressure owners to maintain properties and keep them occupied; demolition of blighted properties; receivership; programs to encourage home ownership; and purchases and efforts to secure and clean abandoned properties and upgrade properties with federal money

Curran, a member of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Housing, believes Springfield should be demolishing more abandoned housing instead of upgrading properties for poor people.

“The foreclosures decimated a lot of neighborhoods in Springfield,” Curran said in May. “There is a lot of vacant housing.”

Sarno has said he is pursuing every dime he can to improve the city’s housing and neighborhoods, but is learning that funds may not be so easy to secure. The mayor was recently advised that Springfield’s current $4.4 million community development block grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will be cut by 16 percent for the next fiscal year and another $1.6 million federal grant will be cut by nearly 12 percent.

“We’re being asked to do more with less,” the mayor said.

Statewide, federal funds from a special 2008 federal law are being used to demolish 120 vacant buildings, with 86 completed so far, a spokeswoman for Brooks said.

In Holyoke, officials say they reduced vacant residential units with the help of a demolition program financed by state grants. Other units, including a 16-unit tenement on Lyman Street, were destroyed by fire.

Holyoke no longer has a demolition program, but since 1999, the city had razed 65 buildings with 587 residential units, according to Karen Mendrala, senior planner for Holyoke’s office of planning and development. Today, there are more than 75 abandoned buildings still standing in Holyoke containing about 400 units, she said.

Of the 65 buildings demolished in the Paper City since 1999, 27 have been redeveloped, or in the process of being redeveloped, according to Mendrala. Future plans for redevelopment are in the works for an additional 29 of the demolished buildings, she added.

New uses range from commercial to residential. Some publicly-subsidized housing has been developed on these lots, she said. But, the majority were developed by the city’s Housing Authority and private, nonprofit groups into affordable home ownership for Holyoke residents, not subsidized apartment buildings, she said.

Attorney General Martha M. Coakley is also focusing on renovating abandoned housing. Vacant homes can become a serious public safety issue and drive down property values, according to Coakley.

“It is a huge problem, not just in urban areas but throughout the commonwealth,” Coakley said.

In her “abandoned housing initiative,” the attorney general seeks court approval to bring a vacant property under control of a receiver, maybe a bank or a nonprofit organization. The receiver can use bank loans or grants to repair the properties.

Coakley was using the program most recently on five properties in Holyoke including units on Sargeant and Dwight streets, a spokesman said.

Just this week, the attorney general made note of the abundance of foreclosed or abandoned properties that have accumulated over the past four years and urged the creation of new registries to track abandoned housing and secondary metals to discourage metal stripping and make it easy for law enforcement to track stolen property.

“The foreclosure crisis that gripped our country four years ago has yet to slow down. As a result, many properties throughout Massachusetts continue to be abandoned and left vacant,” Coakley said. “These abandoned properties are susceptible to building-code violations, bring down property values for homeowners in the neighborhood and often are havens for criminal activity such as copper stripping, drug dealing and arson.”

The June 1 tornadoes could exacerbate the foreclosure crisis in Springfield, says Mary-Elizabeth Bewsee, an organizer with Arise for Social Justice in Springfield. The storms left some people unemployed, endangering their ability to pay a mortgage or rent, she said.

“The tornadoes are going to push people into foreclosure,” she said.

The federal government declared Hampden County a disaster area and is making aid available to Springfield and other communities.

Last year alone, there were 595 foreclosure deeds filed in Springfield, up 18 percent from 2009, according to the Warren Group of Boston, which provides data on real estate. There were 1,047 foreclosures in Hampden County last year, up about 31 percent from 2009, the Warren Group said.

Statewide, foreclosures rose to 12,233 in 2010, up 32 percent.

The census shows that the number of vacant units rose over the past decade in many communities, but that doesn’t always indicate a problem with abandoned homes. Homes or apartments could be vacant and awaiting sale or rental.

“You just don’t see deteriorating vacant homes here,” said Teri A. Anderson, community and economic development director for Northampton. In her city, the rate of vacant residential units did rise 36 percent from 4.2 percent of all residential units in 2000 to 5.7 percent in 2010.

“I don’t see a huge vacancy rate when compared to the total number of units,” Anderson added.

In Palmer, Paul E. Burns, a member of the Town Council, said he also doesn’t believe his community is having a significant problem with long-term vacant housing. Palmer’s rate of vacant residential units increased 32 percent from 5.9 percent of all residential units in 2000 to 7.8 percent in 2000.

“My gut feeling is that most eventually turns over,” Burns said.

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Staff writers Fred Contrada and Mike Plaisance contributed to this story.