Neighborhood Voices highlights local, collaborative efforts to address vacancy and its impacts in St. Louis City. These stories showcase the power of community, the creative use of local tools and resources, and the collective work already underway to support our St. Louis neighborhoods.
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CleanUp/BuildUp: Mobilizing the Private Sector for Large-Scale Property Improvements in Disinvested NeighborhoodsThe impact is both practical and symbolic. Beyond demolition and cleanup, CUBU emphasizes beautification as a tool for neighborhood pride and safety.
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West End: Grassroots Partnership Gets Results
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The West End neighborhood in North St. Louis has emerged as a leading example of coordinated, cross-sector vacancy reduction. Over several years, residents and partner organizations have worked together to identify, track, and strategically address vacant properties, resulting in measurable neighborhood stabilization and improved resident investment.
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St. Joseph Housing Initiative: Revitalizing the 8700 Block of Annetta
On the 8700 block of Annetta Avenue in the Baden neighborhood, three long-vacant houses now stand restored—fully renovated side by side and sold to first-time homebuyers. Completed between mid-2023 and early 2025 by the St. Joseph Housing Initiative (SJHI), the project marks the organization’s first homes in North St. Louis and its fourteenth through sixteenth renovations citywide.
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St. Louis Art Place Initiative: Tackling Vacancy Through Arts and HomeownershipRooted in community voice and strong collaboration, St. Louis Art Place Initiative (API) uses a straightforward approach: renovate vacant homes into affordable, for-sale housing for artists to root in their neighborhoods and, in return, bring creativity to community life.
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Legal Services of Eastern Missouri Neighborhood Advocacy: Putting Power Back into Community Hands
For more than a decade, a house on the 3600 block of Hydraulic Avenue stood empty—boarded windows, graffitied walls, and littered floors. Today, you’d never know. Fresh paint brightens the exterior, the spiral staircase has been restored, and new appliances have transformed it into a modern, two-family home. What once reminded neighbors of loss and disinvestment is now a place to call home.
But transforming the property into a community asset took more than a bucket of paint. This was the result of collaborative partnership between Legal Services of Eastern Missouri Neighborhood Advocacy program (LSEM) and Tower Grove Community Development Corporation (CDC).
But transforming the property into a community asset took more than a bucket of paint. This was the result of collaborative partnership between Legal Services of Eastern Missouri Neighborhood Advocacy program (LSEM) and Tower Grove Community Development Corporation (CDC).
