Why Shreveport Owns More Abandoned Lots Than You Own Opinions on Gumbo
Take a drive through Shreveport and you’ll see them — lonely lots overtaken by weeds, vacant homes with tilted porches, and the occasional mystery pile of bricks. While some might assume they’re just waiting for a bulldozer and a dream, the truth is a little weirder: many of these properties are actually owned by the City.
But not because the City is running a real estate empire. These properties ended up on the City’s books the hard way — through tax adjudication.
How Does That Even Happen?
Let’s break it down in plain English:
A property owner fails to pay their taxes.
The property is put up for tax sale.
No one bids — not even that one guy who buys everything off Facebook Marketplace.
The property is adjudicated to the City (meaning it’s now their problem).
For the next three years, the original owner — or literally anyone — can pay off the taxes, penalties, and interest and redeem the property, no questions asked.
This process plays out thousands of times. In fact, the City of Shreveport currently holds over 6,000 adjudicated properties. That’s not a typo.
But Wait, It Gets Messier...
To make matters worse, many of these properties are so-called heir properties. That means someone passed away without filing succession paperwork, so ownership quietly passed down through relatives like a haunted fruitcake.
By the time someone tries to sell or renovate the place, there’s a tangled mess of cousins, aunts, and long-lost siblings who might have a claim — but no one has clear title.
Why Can’t We Just Fix This?
There are groups and developers who want to revitalize these neighborhoods. But clearing the legal hurdles takes time, money, and a whole lot of patience. Between confirming ownership, dealing with redemption rights, and trying to locate missing heirs, it’s less HGTV and more Law & Order: Property Unit.
So What’s the Takeaway?
Next time you pass an empty lot and think, “Someone should do something with that,” just know:
You’d have better luck organizing your Tupperware drawer — at least those lids don’t come with a redemption period.
And honestly, you might be better off rounding up shopping carts in a Walmart parking lot — at least those don’t require probate court.