Chicago Tribune

Treasurer Maria Pappas is out with a new report that concludes the Scavenger Sale of delinquent taxes isn't working, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Not enough people are bidding on the properties, she says, and so the parcels often remain eyesores, a deterrent to revitalizing the neighborhoods they blight. That especially hurts struggling Black city neighborhoods and south suburbs, Pappas notes.

"Nobody wants these properties because they are in areas that are losing population, have high crime and aren't worth the property taxes you have to pay to own them," said Pappas, who conducts the sales as directed in state law. "So people abandon them."

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