Holmes Project · AI Policy
AI-powered housing intervention recommendations for Philadelphia
Why It Matters
Every blighted block is a compounding failure - of property ownership, public safety, municipal revenue, and community health. The numbers are real. So are the consequences.
Vacant & blighted properties tracked across Philadelphia
Average annual property value loss per blighted neighbor
Estimated economic drag on Philadelphia from blight annually
Philadelphia children living in blighted neighborhoods
A single vacant property reduces surrounding home values by up to 20%. When clustered - as they are across Kensington, Strawberry Mansion, and North Philly - the effect compounds. Entire blocks become uninsurable, unsellable, and unsafe. Blight is not a symptom of poverty; it actively manufactures it.
Vacant buildings are the leading site for arson, drug activity, and violent crime in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Fire Department responds to hundreds of vacant-structure fires every year. L&I violations left unaddressed become structural collapses. This is a life-safety issue as much as a housing one.
Philadelphia has one of the highest poverty rates of any major U.S. city. Blighted properties generate minimal tax revenue while consuming disproportionate city services - fire response, code enforcement, emergency demolition, and legal costs. Returning even a fraction of vacant land to productive use would materially change the city's fiscal position.
Counterintuitively, blight and displacement go hand in hand. As neighborhoods deteriorate, long-term residents are pushed out by deteriorating conditions - then priced out when speculative investment eventually arrives. The window for community-centered intervention is narrow. Data-driven tools like this platform exist to open that window wider.
The Holmes Project exists because the data already exists - it just wasn't connected. OpenDataPhilly publishes vacancy records, L&I violations, eviction filings, and property assessments. We pulled them together, scored every parcel with a machine learning blight index, and made the whole picture visible and queryable in real time. The policy brief generator below turns that data into actionable recommendations - for community organizers, city planners, and anyone who needs to make the case for intervention.
Comparable City
Detroit Land Bank Authority
40,000+ properties cleared
Systematic demolition + strategic rehab with community input
Comparable City
Vacants to Value
$130M invested
Developer incentives + proactive code enforcement
Comparable City
Land Reutilization Program
20,000+ parcels managed
County-wide land bank + community development focus