Empty homes. Lots overgrown with grass and weeds. A discarded mattress or old couch. Tires and bags of trash abandoned on street corners.
Blight can pop up anywhere, and its effects on a neighborhood can be crippling, from degrading an area’s image to dragging down property values on surrounding occupied homes.
While efforts to clean up blight in the Jacksonville area have ramped up since 2013, there’s work to be done. Here are the issues of blight affecting communities within Jacksonville and St. Johns County, and how local governments and residents are addressing the assortment of challenges.