2isa02 Japan's abandoned homes to undergo bigger effort for new lease on fe ~ Nikkei Asia
Japan's abandoned homes to undergo bigger effort for
new lease on life
Government panel recommends scaling up land banks nationwide
\Vacant property is @ burden on parts of Japan beset by population deciine, such as former coal boomtown Yuba in
Hokkaido,
KAZUHIRO OGAWA and SHO ASAYAMA, Nikkei staff writers
December 10, 2019 06:50 JST
TOKYO/KAMINOYAMA, Japan -- As abandoned homes and land multiply like
mushrooms nationwide, Japanese policymakers seek to scale up a potential
solution that has shown promise at the local level.
‘A government expert panel issued Monday a report recommending the use of land
banks, which collect vacant or underused properties into pools that can be tapped
for big redevelopment projects, such as widening roads.
Vacant homes in Japan more than doubled over the three decades to 2018, reaching
8.46 million, or 13.6% of total housing, shows a study from the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
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This problem has taken on greater urgency as society ages and more property falls
intoa
Land banks are making headway against this challenge in a few northern Japanese
communities. Kaminoyama, a city of 30,000 people 280 km north of Tokyo, has
more than 300 vacant homes.
Hidetaka Watanabe, right, heads a local land bank in the northern Japanese city of Kaminoyama.
They can prove a stressful burden on owners, some of whom no longer live in the
community, as with a man in his 60s named Keiichiro Anbiru.
"I'm at my wits' end," said Anbiru, who inherited his family home in Kaminoyama
more than a decade ago but lives 50 km away in Sendai.
Pipes burst by winter cold left him facing costly repairs. "Contractors have refused
to tear it down because the equipment can't fit into the property," Anbiru said. Even
the city would not take his offer to donate the property, he lamented.
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Enter the local nonprofit Kaminoyama Land Bank, which is leading plans to
assemble vacant properties together for new uses. The effort draws on cooperation
from the city government, a local builders' association and of course property
owners.
Nobody’s home: An abandoned house falls to pieces in the city of Tanabe, western Japan
“Even if they are difficult to use on their own, [vacant homes] can have value when
put together," said Hidetaka Watanabe, who heads the land bank. "There's the
prospect of demand for stores and housing for young people," the local real estate
executive said.
Aland bank in Tsuruoka, another city in Yamagata Prefecture, has resolved more
than 100 property-related problems. In one case, vacant homes were torn down to
help widen a road.
"We've become a refuge for people struggling with properties they can't use," said
Daichi Hirose, the body's chief.
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The land ministry, which oversees the expert panel, will propose changes to existing
land legislation as early as 2020 in an effort to reverse the abandonment problem.
Vacant properties diminish the value of surrounding real estate and worsen
community safety, as well as form potential obstacles to disaster preparedness,
experts say.
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