One of the first things that popped into my mind when I read that CMPD wanted to license landlords was the city of Charlotte’s own record as a landlord. Thankfully, the Uptown paper of record thought the same thing and doubled back to check on the Charlotte Housing Authority. Not good.
CHA has let houses sit vacant for years, the paper finds. There is also a track record of holding onto properties in clusters that probably should be sold off to diversify ownership, if nothing else. Property records indicate CHA owns about a half-dozen houses on Longleaf Drive off of South Blvd., with several more owned by Mecklenburg County and at least one by Fannie Mae. Really not good.
There exists a price at which these houses can be sold to people who can then afford to take care of them. It may be, however, that the combination of high crime and high property taxes are too great a hurdle to overcome. That’s bad — and it should be what city officials focus on, not some sketchy plan for yet more regulations.
