City Cracking Down on Landlords with Abandoned Properties

Special task force will implement stricter rules

By Kandiss Crone

CREATED 6:36 PM

Omaha, NE - Boarded up buildings, foundations caving in, overgrown lots. Omaha's Landlord Task Force is holding property owners responsible. "We have 25 problem landlords on that list and we want to get that list down to zero," Mayor Jim Suttle said.

We asked for a list of those 25 landlords but the city couldn't immediately give it to us. Officials did say 21 of the 25 landlords are not cooperating with the city.

Today the city and neighborhood associations outlined 59 ideas to bring rundown apartments up to code, bring in better tenants, and increase property values. The mayor says it begins with residents like Ella Willis who takes pride in her neighborhood and reports problem areas. "We have drugs in the area, everything so we want to try to improve our area and by improving our area it would bring more people into the area who want to live and more businesses into the area," Ella Willis said.

Among the priorities -  passing several ordinances. One would allow landlords to give eviction rights to the city. "Giving police authority to go on private property without having to contact a property owner, that's gonna give us an immeasurable tool if there's criminal activity on vacant lots," Councilman Ben Gray said.

KMTV asked the mayor how much this entire project would cost, he could put a price tag on it.

We also reached out to several of the 25 landlords, they did not want to comment.