The impact of unsafe or abandoned properties in our communities can be significant. Edmontonians have long dealt with the ripple effects of neglected homes, including fires, unsafe buildings, drug activity, and constant uncertainty. Launched in January 2023, the City of Edmonton’s Problem Property Initiative (PPI) aims to address these concerns, spur redevelopment and improve the overall safety and quality of life for residents.

For community advocate Christy Morin, Executive Director of Arts on the Ave, the negative effects of these properties are profound. “Sometimes a problem property becomes like a beehive of the negative things you don’t want to experience on a block,” Morin says. She notes that this can lead to criminal activity that impacts the whole neighbourhood.

Morin, who has lived and worked in the Alberta Avenue area for decades, stresses the toll these properties take on residents’ well-being. “When a problem property lands on your block, it can stop your whole quality of life,” she says. “People are afraid. They stop using their backyards. They feel like they’re constantly watching what’s happening next door.” 

The PPI was sparked by years of community advocacy, with residents and community organizations pushing for new tools to address unsafe or neglected properties. Community groups researched solutions in other cities and raised concerns with governments. Advocates even pushed for changes at the provincial level to allow municipalities to introduce stronger taxation tools targeting derelict properties, which are now part of Edmonton’s approach.

A coordinated City response

The PPI is a coordinated City response, bringing together multiple teams focused on inspections, enforcement, and ordering property remediations and demolitions. Between 2023 and 2025, the PPI expanded its proactive focus on neighbourhoods with high numbers of neglected properties, conducting over 22,000 inspections at more than 2,000 unique properties.  

Trena MacGillivray, Problem Properties Program Coordinator, oversees the initiative’s implementation.

“We’re taking increasingly bold enforcement actions and accelerating the demolition of unsafe vacant buildings, which is contributing to the redevelopment of under-used land, particularly in mature neighbourhoods,” says MacGillivray.

A key tool in addressing these places is the Derelict Residential Tax Subclass, which allows the City to triple the tax rate on vacant and deteriorating residential properties. 

Together, these measures make it increasingly costly for property owners to neglect their buildings.

Restoring safety and hope

“The City’s strategy to address problem properties was launched to help restore a sense of safety to neighbourhoods negatively impacted by these properties,” MacGillivray says. “It’s great to see how far the PPI has come in cleaning up neglected properties, securing or demolishing unsafe buildings, upholding housing standards and connecting vulnerable tenants to resources.”

For Anna Bubel, a long-time McCauley resident and principal of the community economic development firm Another Way, the issue is personal. She has experienced firsthand how disruptive and stressful living next to a problem property can become. “It was awful,” she recalls. “There were safety concerns, hoarding, animals, health inspections, the kind of situations that affect the entire block.”

Bubel says one of the most meaningful changes she has seen is the PPI’s responsiveness. “As residents, sometimes it feels like you’re screaming into the void,” she says. “When someone calls you back, when you see action happening and that feedback loop closing, it’s powerful.”

Community connection remains central to the PPI’s work. Over the past three years, the initiative has attended more than 100 community meetings and events and engaged directly with more than 11,000 Edmontonians.

According to Morin, the initiative has helped restore a sense of fairness for historically overlooked areas. “This initiative has given communities hope that things can change and that these neighbourhoods matter,” she says.

When it comes to the PPI’s work, Bubel offers a message for continued momentum: “Don’t take your foot off the gas,” she says. “Press the pedal down and keep going.”

To report a problem property, contact 311 or use the confidential reporting form at edmonton.ca/ProblemProperties. To report an unsecured vacant property, contact 311 or email communitypropertysafetyteam@edmonton.ca.

Information provided by the City of Edmonton.