Abandoned “zombie” foreclosures accounted for 8.7 percent of the foreclosures in Cook County between 2008 and 2010 and if that trend grows, it will continue to create a blight on neighborhoods where they are located, according to a Woodstock Institute study, HousingWire reports.

What is a zombie foreclosure? For the purposes of its study, the Woodstock Institute defined it as a property where a foreclosure has been filed but has not been resolved in more than three years, leaving the borrower and the servicer without clear control of the property and little incentive to take responsibility.

But the Woodstock Institute recommends ways that municipalities can attack the problem of zombie foreclosures including requiring mortgage servicers to notify parties when they stop pursuing a foreclosure.

Read the Woodstock Institute study, “Unresolved Foreclosures: Patterns of Zombie Properties in Cook County,” as well as its recommendations and comment on what you think.

In other headlines:

Chicago home prices climb most in 25 years in November – Chicago Tribune

Both S&P/Case-Shiller indices shoot up more than 13% – HousingWire