The Battle Against Blight, Part 1

Municipalities across Pennsylvania are concerned about blight, and with good reason. “Blight” generally refers to deteriorated or dilapidated buildings unfit for human occupancy. Municipalities are motivated to remediate blight for the health, safety, and welfare of their residents. This series of blogs will address various approaches to the “battle against blight.”

Blight can make people feel unsafe. Literally, blight is an unsafe characteristic of vacant property. Among other dangerous conditions, blighted buildings may suffer collapse, infestation, flooding, or fire. Beyond the obvious hazards of blight, however, visual indicators of disrepair in a community may lead to feelings of unease among residents and social isolation. 

Sociological studies support the theory that environment can affect crime. The “Broken Windows Theory” was developed by George Kelling, a criminologist, and James Wilson, a political scientist, in 1982 (1). The Broken Windows Theory posits that physical signs of neglect within a community promote the idea that the neighborhood is uncared for. Metaphorically speaking, a broken window goes unrepaired because no one cares enough to fix it. In turn, crime and disorder flourish where small problems go unaddressed.

There are multiple tools available to a municipality to target blight. The best place to start is with the enactment of a local property maintenance code. In 2024, the Pennsylvania Local Government Commission (“LGC”) reported that 83% of Pennsylvania municipalities had adopted a property maintenance ordinance (2). 

Most municipalities with existing ordinances did not begin from scratch. Instead, the International Property Maintenance Code and Building Officials and Code Administrators National Property Maintenance Code are popular starting points. These resources provide a broad framework for property maintenance regulation, enforcement, and administration. Additionally, many municipalities take advantage of the malleability provided for in the legislative process, amending these templates to address a community’s needs. 

After a property maintenance ordinance is adopted, a concerted effort toward enforcement must be made. Upcoming blogs in this series will address other ordinances available to municipalities, as well as the Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act, the Neighborhood Blight Reclamation and Revitalization Act, and the Land Bank Act. 

If you have a question about ways a municipality can address blight, or if you received a property maintenance citation, please reach out to a member of our municipal team. For more information on this or other municipal concerns, please contact Alexis M. Wheeler at awheeler@smgglaw.com or Gretchen E. Moore at gmoore@smgglaw.com.

1. George L. Kelling & James Q. Wilson, Broken Windows, The Atlantic (March, 1982).
2. Property Code Enforcement, Local Government Commission (2024).

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