Tax-delinquent vacant buildings are a blight in far too many city and suburban communities in Cook County.
A buyer can pay the back taxes and take over the property, but it’s a process that can take years and multiple sale attempts before a buyer can be found.
And even if a buyer surfaces, there’s no guarantee the building will end up better off. A University of Chicago study found only 7% of properties sold at so-called “tax scavenger” sales from 2007 to 2019 were actually redeveloped.
That’s why we encourage Gov. J.B. Pritzker to quickly sign a bill that would give counties the power to step in and gain title over a vacant or abandoned property after one failed tax sale.
To be clear: The measure is not a means for the county to quickly kick tax-delinquent property owners out of their homes and businesses. The bill rightly focuses on vacant, distressed properties.
If signed into law, it could become a significant tool in redeveloping long-disinvested areas of the city and county.
The measure would also put the clamps on a practice — called “sale in error” — that lets a buyer cancel an approved tax sale for virtually any reason and get repaid, with interest, by the county.
The Cook County Treasurer’s Office found sales in error cost the county $277 million over a seven-year period through 2022. And what’s worse: the sales switcheroo was most likely to happen with properties in Black and Latino communities, the treasurer’s office study said.
An astounding 30,000 Cook County properties await scavenger sale. The Cook County Land Bank has had success in recent years using its government powers to acquire tax-delinquent buildings in depressed areas and linking them up with new owners.
But Land Bank Chairperson Bridget Gainer, a Cook County commissioner, said buildings usually sit vacant for seven to 10 years before the agency can acquire control.
Gainer said the legislation, if signed by Pritzker, can shorten the time by half.
The backlog and the sales practices show the process is sorely in need of reform in order to ultimately get more of these buildings into the hands of intentional buyers and developers.
And the governor’s signature on this reform bill will go a long way toward making that happen.
Send letters to letters@suntimes.com
.
