Sheriff Sale

Purpose and Approach:

Through the current “Sheriff Sale” process, titles to thousands of properties are conveyed each year to new owners without regard to City- or community-supported strategic planning objectives for the neighborhoods where these properties are located or to the qualifications and intentions of the new owners. This project researches the relationship between the City of Philadelphia’s mortgage and tax foreclosure system and the reclamation of vacant and abandoned properties in Philadelphia neighborhoods. The Fels Institute of Government is working collaboratively with the Philadelphia Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the National Vacant Properties Campaign to achieve project goals.

The project’s three main goals are to:

• Evaluate Philadelphia’s existing mortgage and tax foreclosure process in comparison with alternative strategies for generating property tax revenue, stimulating reinvestment in vacant and under-used property, and promoting foreclosure prevention;

• Assess the costs and benefits associated with changing the organizational structure and/or process associated with foreclosure actions in Philadelphia; and

• Conduct a public dialogue about these issues to emphasize the design of a twenty-first century asset management system for Philadelphia neighborhoods which has been deemed a high priority for the new Mayoral administration of 2007.

Results and Publications:

The Fels team, comprised of a project manager, student, and faculty member, will deliver the following products:

1. Memorandum describing the existing systems and system strengths and weaknesses, with recommendations for change or reform.

2. Database consisting of the addresses of properties conveyed as a result of mortgage and tax foreclosure within the past two years; and b) using the Neighborhood Information System developed by the Cartographic Modeling Lab, identify the current status of each address with respect to present ownership, tax delinquency, code violations, and termination of gas or water service.

3. Physical inspection of 300 addresses to assess a) occupancy status, b) physical conditions, and c) impact on surrounding community environment.

4. Research on alternative approaches to the transfer of foreclosed properties by municipalities

5. Flow chart with matrix that identifies the steps and the players involved in the current sale of foreclosed properties

A final report of the project will provide a unifying narrative for the above deliverables. The report will also make recommendations for how to improve the effectiveness of the foreclosure process in Philadelphia, reduce the number of households threatened with the loss of their residences, and align the transfer of foreclosed properties with local development planning. Completion of the report is expected in the Spring of 2008.

For more information, contact Catherine Lamb, Project Manager, at catlamb@sas.upenn.edu.