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66 Until less than a decade ago, the property preservation industry operated in relative anonymity. With almost no regulation or oversight, companies charged with making sure vacant properties do not look vacant ran an industry well below the radars of government agencies and community activist organizations. e recession changed all that in a hurry by creating a sudden glut of vacated properties and an equally abrupt spike in unemployment among the construction trades. Inevitably, entrepreneurs saw the bounty of vacant properties for the opportunity it was. But this being the real world, where there is a yang to every yin, the suddenly enormous and profitable business of maintaining vacant properties had to be tamed from lawless west to regulated industry, and the sheer scale and rapid growth of the industry would draw the attention of watchdogs who want to make sure everyone was playing fairly. Which brings us to the National Fair Housing Alliance, or NFHA, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest organization that seeks to eliminate injustice and discrimination in American housing. Over the past two years, the NFHA has led a multi-wave assault on property preservation companies that it claims have neglected foreclosed and REO properties in minority neighborhoods. In August of 2014, the NFHA published a report titled, "Zip Code Inequality," which outlines the results of a 20-month investigation, between 2012 and 2013, into the actions property preservation companies did and did not take on REO properties in neighborhoods of color, as compared to those in white neighborhoods. e report claims that banks and Fannie Mae neglected homes in minority neighborhoods more so than comparable homes in predominantly white areas. According to the report, the NFHA studied the job performance of preservation maintenance in middle-income neighborhoods of color and similar neighborhoods of predominantly white residents in several metro areas around the country. e report stated that several property preservation companies had routinely neglected homes in non-white neighborhoods by not performing basic tasks, such as cleaning up trash on the properties, collecting mail, and raking leaves. Accusations of industry misconduct eventually stirred official reaction. In June, a group of Democrat senators, citing the NFHA report, signed a letter sent to the heads of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Reserve, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Office I N D U S T R Y I N S I G H T / S C O T T M O R G A N SCAPEGOATS? Property preservation companies have come under criticism in recent months. But is it warranted?

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