In Spokane, it’s not difficult to spot what might be classified as nuisance properties—meaning those that have been abandoned, where unsafe conditions exist, and where crime occurs repeatedly. Some city leaders believe that since the Great Recession, they’ve increased in number sharply.

Their numbers hopefully will begin to dwindle soon, though, following the Spokane City Council’s recent unanimous approval of changes to the city’s chronic nuisance process.

The welcome changes are designed to improve the process by which the Spokane Police Department, through its community-oriented policing efforts and its front-line commissioned Neighborhood Conditions Officers, addresses complaints about nuisance properties.

Matthew Folsom, an assistant city attorney assigned to the police department’s civil enforcement unit and who helped revise the code, says the changes will enable the NCOs to coordinate more effectively with property owners, renters, and neighbors “to ensure we have safe and healthy neighborhoods for everyone.”

One of the code revisions amends the definition of “chronic nuisance property” to include a property with seven or more nuisance activities during any 12-month period, up from three nuisance activities within 60 days. Folsom says that change is intended to capture “slow-burning nuisance” problems, rather than just “flash in the pan” situations.

Another revision broadens substantially the definition of “nuisance activity” to encompass basically any criminal activity. 

Other changes add “any bank or financial institution” or lien holder to the definition of a “person in charge of a property,” aimed at better addressing lingering problems with foreclosed homes, and provide the option of relocation assistance for residents and protection for domestic violence victims.

“Before, if they didn’t comply, we would go straight to Superior Court. Now, NCOs have the right to issue Class 1 civil infractions for ongoing nuisance activity. It incrementally increases the pressure to get in compliance without the expense of going to Superior Court,” says Folsom. He adds, “I think it’s going to help the Spokane Police Department to engage with the community and help empower neighborhoods.”

City Councilwoman Amber Waldref, who championed the nuisance code changes, says she’s been more aware of the nuisance property problem and working on it for the last several years. She is rightly excited about the potential of the code changes to help correct a problem that she says worsened so quickly it caught the city off-guard.

The focus of the changes isn’t to penalize people or kick them out of their homes, she emphasizes. “It’s about resolving the issues. The more tools the officers have to do that earlier, it’s better for everyone involved.”

While we’re cognizant of the need to protect private property rights, chronic nuisance properties diminish the quality of life here by destabilizing neighborhoods, and thus also affect decisions by business owners. The nuisance code changes won’t eliminate problem properties entirely here, but it should go a long way toward reducing and containing them.