Pittsburgh Seeking New Ways to Keep Up with Number of Vacant Properties from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
""It didn't take long to realize that not only was the system not up to the task of dealing with the problem [of vacant properties], it was actually part of the problem," Mr. Kildee said. The same is true in parts of southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Places ravaged by poverty, steady economic decline and population loss find 20 percent or more of their houses are vacant, according to 2010 U.S. Census data."