Ford Heights Scandal Shows Cook County Tax Seizures Issue

When Annie Coulter took office as mayor of Ford Heights in 2017, she stumbled onto a quiet real estate scandal that, years later, is casting new light on how Cook County allows municipalities to seize and dispose of tax-delinquent property.

Coulter learned that her predecessor, Charles Griffin, arranged to give away 17 village-owned houses — properties Ford Heights had acquired through the county’s revitalization program, which lets municipalities take control of tax-delinquent homes. According to court records and an investigation by the Investigative Project on Race and Equity in partnership with Injustice Watch, at least four of the houses went to Griffin’s friends or relatives, while others were transferred to political allies and village insiders. At the time, the homes were collectively worth about $410,000, based on Cook County assessor data.

Griffin later oversaw the transfer of four more houses during a second term as mayor, investigators found. Yet nothing in county rules explicitly barred him from doing so. Cook County lacks clear regulations preventing local officials from handing seized properties to friends, family or political supporters — and oversight is minimal, the investigation found.

The revitalization program was designed to return vacant and blighted homes to productive use. Instead, the investigation showed with the Ford Heights example how easily a municipality can be bent into a political giveaway machine. Some of the transferred homes quickly fell back into disrepair or tax delinquency. One ranch-style house given away in 2017 now sits boarded up and overgrown, with unpaid property taxes piling up.

County officials had warning signs. Ford Heights failed to submit required annual reports on the seized properties, a basic condition of the program. Even so, the village was allowed to complete foreclosures, clear tax debt and continue using the program in later years. From 2019 to 2023, Ford Heights sought to use the revitalization tool on more than 300 properties, though none were ultimately seized, the investigation found.

Griffin’s actions came to light not through county enforcement, but because Coulter reported them to law enforcement, according to the investigation. Prosecutors later indicted Griffin on theft and official misconduct charges tied to embezzling village funds — not the free house transfers. Griffin was convicted in 2024 and sentenced to four years in prison, though he has appealed and maintains the transfers were lawful.

The Ford Heights case is part of a broader pattern. Since 2016, municipalities have seized more than 600 properties through the revitalization program, mostly in predominantly Black south suburban communities, according to the investigation. In many cases, Cook County allowed governments to keep the full value of seized homes, including any homeowner equity beyond unpaid taxes.

That practice is now under legal pressure. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that governments can’t take more than they’re owed when collecting delinquent taxes. A federal judge later found Cook County’s similar system unconstitutional in cases involving private investors. The county temporarily suspended the revitalization program, though municipalities can still seize properties through the Cook County Land Bank Authority — another channel with limited guardrails.

Housing advocates and policy experts say the real estate implications are stark: Weak rules distort local housing markets, erode trust and sometimes worsen blight rather than curing it. They’re calling for clearer prohibitions, public disposition requirements and independent oversight to ensure seized homes are sold transparently or reused for genuine public benefit.

— Eric Weilbacher