City unveils six-year neighborhood housing rehabilitation plan to tackle vacant and derelict properties

The city of Bloomington presented a proposed Neighborhood Housing Rehabilitation Program on Monday, asking the City Council for guidance and future funding to address an estimated 300–400 vacant and derelict properties.

Cordero Patrick, presenter for the Community Impact and Enhancement (CIE) department, described the program as “a targeted … citywide initiative designed to address property deterioration, increase neighborhood safety, expand housing opportunities, and promote community pride.” He told the council the work will be multi‑departmental and include partnerships with nonprofit housing organizations.

Patrick said staff’s first step is to identify and assess how many vacant or derelict properties exist, their conditions, owners and any city liens. He recommended a tailored strategy for each property: rehabilitation where feasible, donation or transfer to nonprofit housing partners such as Habitat for Humanity, or demolition when necessary. “The goal is to confirm, assess, and return housing units that can be reasonably rehabbed back to the housing market,” he said.

The presentation proposed a five- to six‑year timeline and a performance target of returning roughly 25% of eligible properties per year to the tax roll after initial triage. Patrick said year one would focus on building the inventory and classifying properties into buckets (rehab, demo, transfer) and that years two through five would concentrate on rehab and demolition actions. He said year six would be an assessment of progress and remaining needs.

Staff emphasized partnerships and pilot projects rather than relying solely on city capacity. Patrick said the city has had preliminary conversations with Habitat for Humanity Bloomington, which is “interested in actually rehabbing homes” and could pilot a small number of rehabs this year. The presentation also flagged potential external funding: staff said the department has roughly $1,400,000 in federal grants (including CDBG and a lead‑hazard reduction grant), about $360,000 in state grants, and about $20,000 in general funds available in FY 2026. Patrick said staff will request an additional $105,000 this fiscal year to complete two initiatives: updating the West Bloomington quality‑of‑life plan and neighborhood cleanups.

Council members asked about cross‑departmental staffing, links to zoning and “missing middle” work, foreclosure and trustee processes, commercial property approaches and pilot timelines. Member Burns asked which departments would be involved; Patrick listed legal, development services, planning and zoning, public works and police. Member Scott asked whether staff would bring recommendations on potential ordinance changes such as the neighborhood preservation and rental registration ordinances; Patrick said such recommendations would be returned to council.

On enforcement and speed of action, Member Ward asked about tax foreclosure and lien enforcement as tools to accelerate turnaround. Patrick cautioned that judicial processes take time but said the city does place liens and could explore more active use of trustee and tax sale processes earlier in the timeline.

Patrick said the program will include several new components: a “Rebloom to Block” initiative to convert vacant lots to productive uses, a shift toward more proactive (rather than complaint‑driven) code enforcement with outreach and education, microgrants to neighborhood associations, and a planned application for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency brownfields assessment grant (up to $500,000) to evaluate contaminated sites for redevelopment.

The presentation concluded with a staff commitment to return to council with a detailed inventory, recommended strategies for individual properties, and funding requests that would be required to implement the program at scale. No formal council vote or appropriation was taken at the meeting.