Every major city in the nation is haunted by ghostly remains of the American dream. Millions of homes that should be occupied by families are now boarded up and vacant due to the aftermath of the mortgage crisis that crippled communities. In Atlanta, Robert Welsh and the Dirty Truth Campaign are working to eliminate housing abandonment which causes an increase in crime and illicit behavior. Welsh sat down with rolling out to discuss how the Dirty Truth Campaign will help to re-build inner city communities in Atlanta. –amir shaw
How does the Dirty Truth Campaign benefit the community?
We focus on eliminating vacant properties. In 2007, Dirty Truth counted 1292 vacant properties in several neighborhoods in Atlanta. If we can eliminate vacant properties, we can begin to address the quality of life issues that are plaguing the community.
How did the mortgage crisis affect those neighborhoods?
I would say 85 percent of this was caused by the mortgage crisis. Certain neighborhoods are hit harder by the mortgage crisis. In Atlanta, the 30310 zip code has the highest foreclosure rate in the entire state of Georgia. There is a direct connection between sub prime lending and neighborhoods with the most vacant houses.
What is the first step to solving the problem?
We plan on having a membership meeting on Jan 16. with members of the public and newly elected mayor Kasim Reed with the hopes of starting a commission on how to eliminate vacant properties. We want the mayor to work with banks to get the vacant properties in a land bank so that we can get rid of taxes associated with those properties. We can then rehabilitate the houses and sell to residents who want to remain in the community.
More info is available at www.dirtytruth.org.
