Where Chicago's Vacant Homes Are

City's South Side Hardest Hit With Foreclosures, Vacant Buildings

Ask Chester Wilson about abandoned houses in his part of town and he'll point you to five in a row on 104th Street between Wallace and Normal, next to Fernwood Park.

Around the corner from Mr. Wilson's house, near 121st and Laflin streets in West Pullman, sits a house still owned by a man 18 months after he died in it. Foreclosure is pending. The next-door neighbor cuts the grass, says Mr. Wilson, chief of staff for Ald. Carrie Austin, who represents the 34th Ward.

Vacant buildings are a common sight in the ward, which has more of them — 352 — than all but one ward in the city, the 17th, which includes Auburn Gresham and parts of Englewood, with 358, according to an analysis from the Chicago Department of Buildings.

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