Inside the Philadelphia DA's side hustle — selling seized homes to speculators and cops

[SummerMadness]

Inside the Philadelphia DA's side hustle — selling seized homes to speculators and cops

In neighborhoods across Philadelphia, the city sells homes that owe back taxes, or have fallen into foreclosure. But the sales in Vazquez’s neighborhood were different. Here, police seized properties after drug raids. Once they were taken, the district attorney auctioned them off to the highest bidder, for cash that went back to the law enforcement agencies. The legal process is known as civil asset forfeiture.

The failure of law enforcement to plan for the reuse of these forfeited properties, which often held marginal real estate value, means that many wound up in the hands of absentee landlords or investors who often did not have the resources or motivation to improve the properties. The largest single buyer of forfeited property was a self-described real estate speculator who dabbles in rent-to-own schemes. As many as 325 of these properties appear to be vacant years after their sale and 427 are tax delinquent.

The topic of civil forfeiture came up in a previous thread discussing police misconduct. The topic her shows how this tactic was utilized in Philadelphia. We further see how the war on drugs not only targeted specific communities, but further depressed communities by contributing to neighborhood blight. It's quite interesting to see how these policies are connected to topics like housing, the wealth gap, and misconduct in criminal justice.

 

[Hank77]

It looks like that they have done some things to substantially curtail it's use. Although, the 'property has to be connected to the crime' could leave a wide open door, I hope that it is carefully defined in detail as to what that means.

These incremental improvements, a landmark city settlement and a recent Supreme Court decision set to chill the practice mean it’s unlikely that mass real estate forfeiture will ever return. The new Philadelphia DA, Larry Krasner, ran for office as a critic of forfeiture. But even his office admits the practice of law enforcement taking and selling homes will never be completely over.


“We have not suspended all forfeiture, but we have aggressively narrowed the size and scope,” said Krasner spokesperson Ben Waxman. “You actually have to be convicted and the property has to be connected to the crime or purchased with proceeds connected to the crime. There could be very small exceptions to this rule, but that’s generally it.”
Inside the Philadelphia DA’s side hustle — selling seized homes to speculators and cops

 

[SummerMadness]

It looks like that they have done some things to substantially curtail it's use. Although, the 'property has to be connected to the crime' could leave a wide open door, I hope that it is carefully defined in detail as to what that means.

These incremental improvements, a landmark city settlement and a recent Supreme Court decision set to chill the practice mean it’s unlikely that mass real estate forfeiture will ever return. The new Philadelphia DA, Larry Krasner, ran for office as a critic of forfeiture. But even his office admits the practice of law enforcement taking and selling homes will never be completely over.


“We have not suspended all forfeiture, but we have aggressively narrowed the size and scope,” said Krasner spokesperson Ben Waxman. “You actually have to be convicted and the property has to be connected to the crime or purchased with proceeds connected to the crime. There could be very small exceptions to this rule, but that’s generally it.”
Inside the Philadelphia DA’s side hustle — selling seized homes to speculators and cops

Things have changed substantially since Krasner took office, so I suspect this tactic will be tremendously curtailed under his tenure. Krasner is a DA that understands the war on drugs is fruitless and has taken steps to decriminalization of marijuana and ending cash bail for low-level offenses.