Meant to be a component of the recently signed California Homeowner Bill of Rights, California lawmakers are prepared to force owners of foreclosed properties (e.g., banks) to pay for upkeep of foreclosed, abandoned and/or distressed properties in order to avoid, minimize and remedy economic blight. As California neighborhoods and economies struggle to deal with the boom and bust of housing, economic blight resulting from an increase in foreclosed and abandoned properties, is a problem that is both real and detrimental to local residents. The California Health and Safety Code Section 33030 defines a blighted area as an area in which the physical conditions that cause blight is so prevalent and so substantial that it causes a reduction of, or lack of, proper utilization of the area to such an extent that it constitutes a serious physical and economic burden on the community that cannot reasonably be expected to be reversed or alleviated by private enterprise or governmental action, or both, without redevelopment. Section 33031 defines blight to include but are not limited to buildings in which it is unsafe or unhealthy for persons to live or work; conditions that prevent or substantially hinder the viable use or capacity of buildings or lots; adjacent or nearby incompatible land uses that prevent the development of those parcels or other portions of the project area; depreciated or stagnant property values; abnormally high business vacancies, abnormally low lease rates, or an abnormally high number of abandoned buildings. Hopefully, such a law could help keep neighborhood home prices up even though a particular neighborhood may have a large number of foreclosures.