The City of Baton Rouge continues to struggle with widespread blight that affects the look, safety, and economic health of our neighborhoods. Abandoned buildings, overgrown lots, illegal dumping, and neglected properties keep spreading. Blight touches every part of the city, but it hits hardest in lower-income and historically disinvested neighborhoods, lowering property values and raising safety risks. It also burdens the city departments that are already working with limited staff and tools. Currently, the city’s response is mostly reactive, relying on complaints coming in through our 311 system. This results in the response often occurring too late to salvage the property. This approach leaves us constantly playing catch-up instead of getting ahead of the problem. 

The goal of this project is to minimize the prevalence of blight and deteriorated properties in the city, reduce abandoned properties and improve economic health through assistive interventions, including commercial participation and equitable distribution of remediation resources.