Thousands of vacant buildings take heavy toll on St. Louis police, firefighters [View all]

ST. LOUIS • They don’t contribute much, if anything, to the tax base. They don’t house businesses, at least not legal ones. They’re nobody’s home — except the homeless, who come and go.

But just by standing there, the city’s empty and broken buildings leach untold amounts of money from taxpayers.

Pick virtually any address among the estimated 7,000 to 12,000 vacant structures in St. Louis, and chances are police officers or firefighters have been there — in some cases, multiple times.

Fire and police officials say it’s hard to know exactly how much the buildings where no one lives or works are costing taxpayers. But they can point to some statistics.

Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/tipping-point-thousands-of-vacant-buildings-take-heavy-toll-on/article_aa50237e-f71c-5e25-abed-1492307b6ad3.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1