ST. LOUIS — An overnight fire caused significant damage to a vacant building in north St. Louis on Tuesday.
The building is just one of thousands left empty in the city and it's a problem that leaders are working to fix.
Behind the flashing lights and broken window, there's a deeper problem with the smoke that came from a building on St. Louis Avenue.
Community Development Administration Public Information Officer Tom Nagel said there are all sorts of things they have to deal with when it comes to vacant properties.
"No one wants to live next to a vacant building. There are all sorts of risks, dangers and problems," he said.
St. Louis firefighters saw that danger first-hand Tuesday as flames took over two empty properties, and it was all because someone was trying to stay warm.
Nagel said it doesn't matter where you live, these problem properties are everywhere.
"Vacancy affects everyone, whether it's on your block or just in the region," he said.
That's why Nagel said there's a huge initiative to tackle this issue right now and it's only gaining momentum.
Five years ago, the Vacancy Collaborative launched a website where you can find vacant buildings and see who's responsible for them.
Nagel said before that the city had no idea how many vacant buildings there were.
"We want to go further with the data. We want to understand more of those costs to the taxpayer, but also the cost to neighbors. How does vacant property affect your property value or crime and other issues on your block in your neighborhood?" he said.
Currently, according to Nagel, there are about 22,000 vacant properties across the City of St. Louis and the city owns half of them.
"The city doesn't want to own this property. People in neighborhoods want to live next to neighbors and not vacant buildings," he said.
That's why the city launched the Vacancy Strategy Initiative in August 2023.
Nagel said the past few months they've been working on selling those properties to responsible landowners and holding those non-responsible landowners accountable.
The next big phase of the project is creating a prioritization index, he said.
"Not just understanding what property is vacant, but how the city wants to use its resources to address this property. Some buildings really need to just come down yesterday. Some buildings are beautiful and have great bones," Nagel said.
The other two goals over the next several years include upgrading the vacancy website to make the map more sophisticated and crafting new policies and legislation that will help the city best use its resources, but also hold the absent landowners accountable.
Nagel said at the end of the day, city leaders want to preserve the best of St. Louis.
"This is a huge opportunity for the city residents and institutions to work together," he said.
According to Nagel the City of St. Louis is also using funds from the American Rescue Act Plan to help stabilize these vacant buildings.