{"id":255227,"date":"2026-07-30T04:34:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255227\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T04:34:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:34:40","slug":"berks-community-forum-the-challenge-of-blighted-properties-in-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255227\/","title":{"rendered":"Berks Community Forum &#8211; The Challenge of Blighted Properties in Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Who owns Reading\u2019s blighted homes \u2014 and why is it so difficult to find them?<\/p>\n<p>This community forum explores an investigation by Berks reporter Hanna Holthaus into 286 properties on Reading\u2019s September 2025 blighted list. Her reporting found that identifying property owners and locating reliable contact information was often a challenge, complicating efforts to hold owners accountable.<\/p>\n<p>Hanna is joined by Reading Managing Director Jack Gombach, Community Development Director David Barr, and Greater Berks Development Fund President Deb Millman to discuss the impact of blight on local neighborhoods and potential solutions for Reading and communities across Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>Read the investigation at https:\/\/www.spotlightpa.org\/news\/2026\/05\/reading-pennsylvania-blighted-buildings-ownership-analysis-local-government\/<\/p>\n<p>#ReadingPA #BerksCounty #Blight #Housing #CommunityDevelopment #SpotlightPA<\/p>\n<p>For more information visit https:\/\/www.spotlightpa.org<br \/>Subscribe to our channel: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@SpotlightPA<br \/>Subscribe to our newsletters: http:\/\/www.spotlightpa.org\/newsletters<br \/>Support our newsroom: http:\/\/www.spotlightpa.org\/donate<\/p>\n<p>From the program: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bctv.org\/program\/berks-county-community-forums\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Berks County Community Forums<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who owns Reading\u2019s blighted homes \u2014 and why is it so difficult to find them? This community forum&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-255227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}