Which neighborhoods are hardest hit by foreclosures? How many foreclosed homes have become a vacant public nuisance?

Bank-owned blighted foreclosures will be on display Thursday during a two-hour public tour aimed at increasing blight enforcement and big bank accountability.

City Councilwomen Desley Brooks and Jane Brunner will join, ACCE - Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment -  and local residents to view three currently undisclosed locations where blight plagues city blocks.

According to Anthony Panarese, director of ACCE in Oakland, the ultimate goal is to focus attention on getting banks to clean up their stake in the blighted property.

“They should be held accountable for the mess they've made,” Panarese said. To that end, the tour will highlight foreclosed homes that have skipped the blight cleanup process and the advantages of enforcing bank cleanup payments on bank-owned properties.

The tour will take place TODAY, Feb. 17, and departs from Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza at 4 p.m. To join the tour email chaas@calorganize.org.

Is there a vacant foreclosed home near where you live that should be cleaned up? To report blight on private property, call (510) 238-3381. To report blight on public property, call (510) 615-5566 or email PWACallCenter@oaklandnet.com. Or use this online form.

Want to learn more? A list of privately-owned properties cleaned up with city of Oakland dollars is available here. Note, this is not an updated list.

Read about what the Oakland Community Land Trust is doing to fight foreclosures and blight.

About Irene

Irene Florez is a sustainable development enthusiast and an Oakland resident of seven years. She writes on issues related to East Oakland and Latinas/os in California.