Cincinnati City Council voted 5-4 Wednesday to approve more oversight of vacant buildings.
The program requiring registration and periodic inspection of those properties will go into effect in February 2026, giving the city enough time to hire additional staff.
The city already has an initiative called the "Vacant Building Maintenance License Program" that keeps tabs on roughly 1,200 buildings across the city considered uninhabitable due to serious code violations.
Advocates for the "Vacant Building Registration Program" say it will help prevent roughly 2,800 other buildings from getting to that point by holding owners accountable for maintenance.
What the program would do
The program requires owners of a building vacant for more than six months to register with the city and allow a twice-yearly interior inspection and exterior inspections 10 times a year. The owner must pay a roughly $250 fee every six months the building is vacant.
About 83% of the owners of vacant properties are local, the city estimates. Roughly 40% are corporate entities, while about 57% are individuals, with the remainder being nonprofit or other ownership structures.
"We are trying to go after those bad actors," Council member Anna Albi said in committee Tuesday. "Giving good-intentioned actors every chance in the books we can to help them and really make sure that we're not letting properties fall into disarray and blight in a way that's not going to be detrimental to the communities."
The city estimates the top neighborhoods with vacant buildings are:
- Price Hill (237)
- Avondale (177)
- Evanston (156)
- West End (144)
- Westwood (133)
Cincinnati Department of Buildings and Inspections Director Art Dahlberg said the current program for uninhabitable buildings is complaint-based and thus reactive. The new registration proposal would be proactive, he argued.
Dahlberg pointed out the buildings in question contribute greatly to stress on police and fire resources. The roughly 2,800 buildings across the city in which water has been turned off — a signifier of vacancy — have averaged almost five fire runs and more than two police runs over the past five years. About 1,800 of those properties haven't had water service running to them in the last five years.
Not every Council member is on board
Council members Scotty Johnson and Seth Walsh voted against the legislation in the Equitable Growth and Housing Committee on Tuesday. Johnson points out the city has already cut the number of uninhabitable buildings from about 2,300 to about 1,200 over the past decade and says it's ramping up to do more.
"I do not believe we need new legislation when it comes to vacant properties in our city," he said. "I think there's a concerted effort to address them, even with the hiring of 17 new inspectors."
Johnson also expressed concerns the program could exacerbate disparities and cause problems for lower-income property owners.
Buildings and Inspections Director Dahlberg told Council the city could find ways to work with people who had inherited a building or found themselves in other special circumstances.
Walsh echoed some of Johnson's points, saying the city's current Vacant Building Maintenance License Program could address the issues the proposed legislation is aimed at.
"There are a number of buildings that are sitting out there that have had complaints called against them," he said. "There are buildings that have facades falling off of them. Those should be in the program that exists right now."
The measure passed out of committee with a 6-2 vote; Johnson and Walsh voted against it and Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney was absent.
During the full City Council meeting Wednesday, Council member Victoria Parks changed her vote to join Johnson, Walsh, and Kearney in opposition.
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