As the city considers making landlords more accountable for community safety, Charlotte's own Housing Authority has been sitting for years on three vacant homes in one small neighborhood.
The boarded-up homes are in Pine Valley, an area off South Boulevard near Interstate 485 that residents say has struggled with drugs and other crime for almost two decades.
The situation illustrates a particular irony: Some city officials want private businesses to help reduce neighborhood crime, but a city-funded agency has been slow to correct a blight marring this community.
