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Vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties—referred to by some as “blighted properties”—pose significant costs to public health, property values, local taxpayers, and more. Failure to address problem properties, just like ignoring a leaking faucet, costs more in the long run and causes more harm over time. Understanding the true and…
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By Tarik Abdelazim, Director, National Technical Assistance, Center for Community Progress Before I came to Community Progress, I spent eight years in public service in my hometown, Binghamton, New York. As the Director of Planning, Housing, and Community Development from 2010-13, I watched the tax foreclosure process and subsequent tax…
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Every year, property owners across the country receive property tax bills. Most people pay, because the consequences of not paying your property taxes seem cut and dry: Fail to pay and you may lose your property. But what happens when a private property owner walks away from a declining investment…
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Two years ago, Missouri State House Representative Kevin Windham began asking questions to try to understand why there were so many vacant and abandoned properties in the communities he represented in suburban St. Louis County, Missouri. Who owned these properties? Why were they concentrated in majority Black neighborhoods? Why didn’t…
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We spoke with the Albany County Land Bank Corporation’s Executive Director Adam Zaranko about affordable housing initiatives, the importance of diversified partnerships, and what’s coming up for the land bank in 2023. The Albany County Land Bank recently launched an innovative program to turn vacant properties into affordable housing opportunities….
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The City of Detroit’s innovative Make it Home program harnesses the power of a traditionally harmful system—the property tax foreclosure process—and uses it to increase affordable homeownership, improve housing conditions, and stabilize neighborhoods. When landlords fail to pay their property taxes and face foreclosure, tenants are usually forced to move….
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With technical assistance support from Community Progress, Louisville is reforming their housing and building code enforcement with equity in mind.
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Dear friends and supporters of the Center for Community Progress, With great sadness and great gratitude, I announce that I will be departing from the Center for Community Progress at the end of 2022, to assume the role of President and CEO of Independent Sector. Over these last five years…
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This is an excerpt of Chapter 11 of Tackling Vacancy and Abandonment: Strategies and Impacts After the Great Recession, jointly produced by the Center for Community Progress, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. It has been lightly edited and condensed for the web….
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On August 5th, 2022, Community Progress and forty-three supporting organizations across the country submitted a public comment calling for the modernized Community Reinvestment Act to center racial equity and embed land banking strategies. You can read our comment here. Passed in 1977, the Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) is one of…
Read More...Vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties—referred to by some as “blighted properties”—pose significant costs to public health, property values, local taxpayers, and more. Failure to address problem properties, just like ignoring a leaking faucet, costs more in the long run and causes more harm over time. Understanding the true and…
Read More...By Tarik Abdelazim, Director, National Technical Assistance, Center for Community Progress Before I came to Community Progress, I spent eight years in public service in my hometown, Binghamton, New York. As the Director of Planning, Housing, and Community Development from 2010-13, I watched the tax foreclosure process and subsequent tax…
Read More...Every year, property owners across the country receive property tax bills. Most people pay, because the consequences of not paying your property taxes seem cut and dry: Fail to pay and you may lose your property. But what happens when a private property owner walks away from a declining investment…
Read More...Two years ago, Missouri State House Representative Kevin Windham began asking questions to try to understand why there were so many vacant and abandoned properties in the communities he represented in suburban St. Louis County, Missouri. Who owned these properties? Why were they concentrated in majority Black neighborhoods? Why didn’t…
Read More...We spoke with the Albany County Land Bank Corporation’s Executive Director Adam Zaranko about affordable housing initiatives, the importance of diversified partnerships, and what’s coming up for the land bank in 2023. The Albany County Land Bank recently launched an innovative program to turn vacant properties into affordable housing opportunities….
Read More...The City of Detroit’s innovative Make it Home program harnesses the power of a traditionally harmful system—the property tax foreclosure process—and uses it to increase affordable homeownership, improve housing conditions, and stabilize neighborhoods. When landlords fail to pay their property taxes and face foreclosure, tenants are usually forced to move….
Read More...With technical assistance support from Community Progress, Louisville is reforming their housing and building code enforcement with equity in mind.
Read More...Dear friends and supporters of the Center for Community Progress, With great sadness and great gratitude, I announce that I will be departing from the Center for Community Progress at the end of 2022, to assume the role of President and CEO of Independent Sector. Over these last five years…
Read More...This is an excerpt of Chapter 11 of Tackling Vacancy and Abandonment: Strategies and Impacts After the Great Recession, jointly produced by the Center for Community Progress, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. It has been lightly edited and condensed for the web….
Read More...On August 5th, 2022, Community Progress and forty-three supporting organizations across the country submitted a public comment calling for the modernized Community Reinvestment Act to center racial equity and embed land banking strategies. You can read our comment here. Passed in 1977, the Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) is one of…
Read More...