. >> reporter: brownlee woods is another neighborhood where the y.n.d.c. works. nancy martin and her husband russell have lived here since 1982 and over the years watched people leave as their neighborhood declined. >> we can do one of two things. you can either sit here on the and do something., or you get >> these are the benches we just put in. >> reporter: she's president of her neighborhood association and meets regularly with the y.n.d.c., which also helps residents develop their own neighborhood action plans. >> they bring a list of all the houses that we're working on, and we go through each one. >> reporter: one house that was falling apart was owned by an out of town businessman. ian beniston stepped in. >> and he told him, "are you going to do anything with this property? because if you're not, we're taking it." >> reporter: the community is taking over that house, and the y.n.d.c. brought more than a dozen other houses up to code in brownlee woods. >> we are making progress. i mean, we know that in terms of owner occupancy, vacancy data. however, ther