(Photo by Scottie Lee Meyers)

The eighth national Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference (RVP) will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 15-17, 2018, announced the Center for Community Progress, the national nonprofit that hosts the event. The conference will be at the Wisconsin Center and is expected to draw approximately 1,000 nonprofit, government, business, and community leaders to the city from 35-40 states.

RVP will explore the latest strategies to address vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties. Conference organizers seek to create a conference that showcases innovation and provides a forum in which new ideas can arise. The conference’s 60+ sessions will highlight work from around the country, including efforts in Milwaukee. Topics covered include:

• Equity, fairness, and justice in community development
• Code enforcement and nuisance abatement
• Property tax systems and property tax foreclosure
• Reuse of buildings and land
• Demolition and other blight elimination techniques
• Land banking
• Financing rehab and homeownership
• Rental housing regulation
• Arts, placemaking, and culture
• Historic preservation
• Property data and information systems

“It’s great to welcome the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference particularly because it focuses on the future. Milwaukee is eager to share our experience and to learn from other conference participants,” Mayor Tom Barrett said. “Our city has successfully repurposed vacant industrial and residential land. And, in doing so, we continue to look for ways to maximize the benefits to residents, neighborhoods, and the entire city.”

“As a national organization, we work all over the country. Milwaukee impressed us with its strong leadership and creative collaborations within city government, as well as its vibrant network of community development nonprofits,” said Tamar Shapiro, president and CEO of the Center for Community Progress. “Leaders across many sectors in the city have broken new ground in the face of tough challenges, and we can’t wait for those stories to be shared with a national audience at the 2018 Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference.”

Held every eighteen months, the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference is the sole national conference dedicated to helping communities find new solutions for vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties. It attracts and connects professionals from many interrelated fields, including community development, urban policy, code enforcement, affordable housing, land banking, law, urban planning, economic development, and public safety.

More information about the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference is available at www.reclaimingvacantproperties.org.

About Center for Community Progress

Founded in 2010, the Center for Community Progress is the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to building a future in which entrenched property vacancy, abandonment, and deterioration no longer exists in American communities. The mission of Community Progress is to ensure that communities have the vision, knowledge, and systems to transform vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties into assets supporting neighborhood vitality. Community Progress serves as the leading national resource for local, state and federal policies and best practices that address the full cycle of property revitalization. More information is available at www.communityprogress.net.