LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Delores Burns isn't embarrassed about her home in the California neighborhood. It's the one next door that's embarrassing.
"I'm in a Bunco group, and they come over, and they look at the house, and the house has been there for years empty," she said.
In fact, she said it's been vacant, abandoned and deteriorating for about 15 years.
"One of the neighbors — he decided he wanted it to look better, so he went over and put a lot of paint on it," she said. "I had to stop him, because he was going to make it worse."
Luckily for Burns, the city's Landbank Authority owns the home, and Metro's Vacant and Public Property Administration was trying to sell it as of last month. But the home is one of just 5,000 abandoned properties across the city, and only a fraction are owned by the city, according to Kitty McKune.
"You can't just call up the city and say, 'Make it stop,'" McKune said.
On Tuesday night, McKune's group, New Directions Housing Corporation, unveiled a report on vacant homes and identified about 30 of the worst. It's the 17th annual report released by the group.
"We're not doing anything, really, to move the needle," McKune admitted.
So this year, McKune said her group is taking things a step further by plotting a new course to brainstorm new ideas to start solving this problem. One of the big ideas: coming up with a way to help average people pay to fix houses like this one.
"That's the biggest problem," said Richard Meadows, who attended the Tuesday night meeting. "There's a lot of people who would buy the properties and have the money to buy them, but they can't get a loan from the bank. And if you can't get the money to fix it up, then there's no use to buy the property."
Meadows, along with the Shelby Park Neighborhood Board, has seen improvement in his neighborhood but hopes Tuesday night's sessions, and those that will follow, will lead to more.
New Directions wants to dedicate 2019 to brainstorming a plan to either renovate or tear down the eyesores.
"New Directions is excited to announce that all of its Neighborhood Roundtables for 2019 will be devoted solely to the issue of vacant and abandoned properties," the group wrote in a news release. "New Directions hopes to facilitate active discussion from neighbors, organizations, government, philanthropy, and business to develop a comprehensive plan to address the issue."
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