The ABC7 I-Team on Monday reported on Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas' study of the Scavenger Sale, which found the effort to return vacant and abandoned properties back to productive use was failing in its mission.

Consumer Reporter Jason Knowles visited both the16th Ward on the city's South Side and the south suburb of Harvey. The 16th Ward has nearly 8,000 mostly languishing Scavenger Sale properties, the most of any ward in the city, and Harvey has more than 5,400 on the list, the most any suburb.

In the ABC7 report, both 16th Ward Ald. Stephanie Coleman and Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark emphasized how vacant and abandoned properties harm the people they represent.

"I think that definitely something needs to be done about it," Clark said. "It takes a comprehensive approach on all parts - the local governments, the county government and the state government - to fix it."

The report also noted that the bulk of properties that end up the Scavenger Sale list are in minority city wards that also have high violent crime rates and declining populations. "We're seeing 50% of the violent crime in the city in those areas," Pappas said.

Pappas also noted the need for the state law that established the Scavenger Sale to be revisited by the Illinois General Assembly.

Watch the report.