Baden

There are almost 25,000 vacant houses, commercial buildings and land plots in St. Louis, and about 60% are privately owned. Some nuisance properties can be a blight on communities, so neighborhood associations have been trying to acquire them or compel owners to fix them.

Community leaders in the Baden neighborhood of north St. Louis are going to court to claim vacant houses for potential new homeowners.

All the middle school students at River Roads Lutheran School easily fit inside Yvonne Boyd’s classroom. Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students follow…