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Land Banks

Community Progress Announces Upcoming Webinars Focused on Preventing Post-COVID-19 Vacancy

Over the last 30-days we’ve watched the COVID-19 health crisis forever change the fabric of this country. The lives of millions of Americans have been impacted and the need for equity will grow exponentially. As communities are grappling with the immediate health, social, and economic impacts of this unprecedented pandemic,…

Community Development Is Crucial in This Moment

The pandemic is highlighting the crucial necessity of community developers’ work. Here’s what the field will need to play its part in the recovery. One month ago, when I began the first draft of this article, the world was drastically different. Well before we became part of this new reality,…

‘Inside Out’ project shines light on Edison neighborhood and residents

Information provided by Kelly Clarke, Executive Director, Kalamazoo County Land Bank. The ‘Inside Out’ project (Credit: Kalamazoo County Land Bank) What is Inside Out, and how did it come to Kalamazoo? Inside Out is a global participatory art project organized by JR, a winner of the 2011 Ted Prize at…

Westmoreland County’s redevelopment authority and land bank tackle affordability and accessibility

Westmoreland County, located southeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has an active redevelopment authority and a land bank. It also has a large, and growing, aging population and a housing affordability problem. A new grant award will make it possible for the redevelopment authority and land bank to help with those…

Five years in, New York’s land bank movement offers lessons for national field

It was September 2013, and I was in a conference room somewhere in the City of Syracuse with about twenty other individuals from across New York State for our first meeting of New York land bank leaders. At the time, I was the Director of Planning, Housing and Community Development…

Why do some cities have so many vacant properties?

Tarik Abdelazim, our associate director for National Technical Assistance, wrote this blog post (cross-posted from Breathing Lights) to begin to unpack the causes of vacancy and abandonment for residents of the Capital Region of New York. Although focused on cities in New York, the general trends described below are…

Land Banks & Community Land Trusts: Not Synonyms or Antonyms. Complements

By: Emily Thaden, Kim Graziani, Annie Stup This blog post also appeared on the Shelterforce blog, rooflines.org. “For land banks to get into the affordable housing business, which is a discipline in itself, there could be claims that it’s off mission. But it’s not always off mission, particularly when it…

Bringing Michigan’s land bank leaders together in rural Marquette County

Land bank leaders gathered in Marquette, Michigan, last month, on June 13-14th, for the third annual Michigan Land Bank Leadership Summit. The event drew over 40 participants, representing over 20 land banks. This year, the Michigan Association of Land Banks also invited participants from counties interested in starting a land…

Charting a new way forward through attorney-practitioner partnerships: Part I—Syracuse

This is the first in a two-part series exploring how strong working partnerships between practitioners and attorneys can give rise to innovation in the work to reclaim and revitalize blighted properties. After reading below, check out Part II —Milwaukee right here >> “Lawyers can paralyze you for sure. They’ll scare you to…

Dollars and sense: The search for sustainable land bank funding

Frank Alexander, in his newly released second edition of Land Banks and Land Banking, talks about well-run land banks as nimble, flexible tools. No two land banks are exactly the same, as each is adapted to its own particular local conditions. If there is one common challenge that binds together nearly all of the estimated 120 land banks nationwide,…

The Problem with Calling Neighborhoods with Vacant Properties “Blighted”

Blight is a shorthand term many people use to refer to properties they perceive as problematic in some way.

How Vacant and Abandoned Buildings Affect the Community

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.

What’s the Deal with Rural Land Banks? A Q&A with West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation Executive Director Taylor Bennett

Land banks can help rural communities deal with vacant, abandoned, and dilapidated properties.

New Study Shows Land Bank Ownership of Vacant Lots Can Reduce Violent Crime

A vacant lot owned and cared for by a land bank sees a greater decrease in crime compared to privately owned lots, finds 2023 study in Flint, MI.

2023 Year in Review: National Land Bank Network

Some highlights from National Land Bank Network and the land banking field in 2023.

State of Land Banking: 2023 Survey Highlights

Key takeaways, data, and charts from the 2023 State of Land Banking survey.

Helping Land Banks Advance Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

In the Land Bank DEI Learning Cohort, eight land banks learned how to disrupt racial injustice to better serve their communities.

Challenges—and Opportunities—to Addressing Vacant Properties in Raton, New Mexico

A snapshot of Raton, New Mexico and how the city can tackle vacant and abandoned properties.

Transforming Cleveland Vacant Lots into an Urban Farm

How the Cuyahoga Land Bank and a community activist worked together to transform a block one property at a time.

Celebrating 20 Years of Land Banks in Michigan

In 2023, Michigan land banks mark two important milestones: 20 years since the passage of Michigan’s Land Bank Fast Track Act and incorporation of the 50th land bank in the state.