Historic property ownership trends, government action, and the market create conditions for tenuous property ownership that puts vulnerable homeowners at risk. These conditions also produce concentrations of property that become problematic when absentee owners fail to maintain their investments. Estate planning, probate, heirs’ property, tax delinquency, and other factors contribute to this problem.
Estate Planning and Heirs’ Property
Map: Property in estate (Jan. 2025)
Data from Plan Hillsborough shows areas with the greatest density of VAD property is also where the greatest level of gentrification has occurred, the greatest threat for further gentrification exists, and populations are most vulnerable to destabilization.
This map shows that property in estate is clustered in these same communities. The legal tangles associated with title and probate pose a threat to generational wealth, and may be targeted by investors. Insufficient resources to stabilize these “heirs’ properties” increases the risk that they may become vacant, abandoned, or deteriorate.
Source: Hillsborough County Property Appraiser, January 2025
Tax Delinquent Property
Tax delinquent property poses an additional example of fragile ownership. The County places a lien on tax delinquent property. A tax lien certificate is eventually sold at auction to recoup the County’s lost tax revenue. Tax lien investing presents a market for absentee owners to make speculative purchases in vulnerable neighborhoods.
These maps of the East Tampa Community Redevelopment Area show a continuity of concentrated tax delinquent property between 2004 and 2022. These areas of concentrated tax delinquency overlap with those that have a high concentration of properties in estate. Tax delinquency may also indicate owners have abandoned their property or are not paying sufficient attention to it, which can lead to detriments to the safety and quality of life in the neighborhood.
Non-homesteaded Property with Liens
This map created with data provided by the City of Tampa shows non-homesteaded properties with hard-cost liens in January, 2025. The owners of these properties do not claim them as their primary residence. These properties are either vacant or rented by tenants.
The dots represent places the City has paid to board structures, remove accumulations of junk, mow the yard, and more. These properties may represent property owned by investors who have purchased property to rent or hold until they can make a profitable return.
As shown for properties in estate and tax delinquent property, these places are also clustered in Tampa’s low-income, historically Black neighborhoods and show the harm that these properties can cause.
Tell the power that be…
City Council members support the cause. But without cooperation from key players in the administration, progress will stall.
Let City Council know you’re on their side. Ask the Mayor for her staff to join us.
Vacant to Vibrant 