Columbus nuisance property team adds social worker, attorney to help displaced residents

The Columbus Zone Initiative — a city program focused on eliminating nuisance properties — is hiring new staff and rebranding to become the Property Action Team, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein announced at a Tuesday news conference.

The team — which started as a pilot program in 2008 — works with other city departments like the Columbus Division of Police to shut down properties that are unsafe, illegal or a hub for crime.

Here's what you need to know from Tuesday's news conference.

What's new with the Property Action Team?

The Property Action Team consists of five city lawyers, each assigned to one of police division's patrol zones. Last year, Columbus police added a sixth patrol zone, so the team is hiring a sixth lawyer to go with it, Klein said.

The team is also hiring a full-time social worker to help residents displaced or affected by nuisance properties. The social worker will join the team's existing cohort of social work interns from Ohio State University.

"It's just not enough to close down a property. We have to help those pick up the pieces," Klein said.

The team will also begin releasing an annual report to track their progress, Klein added.

What has the Property Action Team done in the past?

The city attorney's office has been involved in several high-profile closings of nuisance properties over the past two years.

In November, the city ordered a group of residents — many of them Haitian immigrants illegally trafficked to Columbus — to move out of their homes at the Colonial Village Apartments on the East Side. Many of the apartments were being rented illegally and did not have heat or other utilities.

Before that, the city evacuated Latitude Five25 on Christmas Day in 2022, a Near East Side apartment complex that was frequently without power, hot water, heat or working elevators.

Klein said the city attorney's office has filed "nearly 250" criminal cases against nuisance properties since January 2018, 130 of which were against houses, seven against apartment complexes, and 25 against bars and illegal after-hours clubs.

Does shutting down nuisance properties work?

According to a study the team conducted a few years ago, calls for service and violent crime decreased by 60% on a nuisance property's street once it was shut down, Klein said.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant echoed Klein's sentiment, saying she had "many examples" of nuisance property clean-up deflecting crime.

How do I report a nuisance property?

Residents who want to report criminal activity can call the Columbus Division of Police's non-emergency line at (614) 645-4545. All other inquiries should be directed to (614) 645-3111 or columbus.gov/311, according to a news conference handout.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus nuisance property team adds staff to help displaced residents