A Conversation with Crystal Loffler, President of the Office of Community Renewal

We sat down with Crystal Loffler, President of the Office of Community Renewal at New York State Homes & Community Renewal, to talk about unique and flexible funding opportunities available to land banks in New York State and what other entities can learn from her work.

Can you share a little bit about yourself and your role at New York State Homes & Community Renewal (HCR)?

I started my professional career as a planner, working at a Regional Planning Commission in Vermont. I joined HCR in 2008. I started as a project manager for agency grant programs. Over time, our New York Main Street program became my primary focus area. I served as the Program Director for several years before taking on a leadership position for the agency’s Office of Community Renewal.

In my current role as the President of the Office of Community Renewal, I lead a team of 30 grant project managers and program directors in the administration of a portfolio of state and federally funded grant programs. These grant programs issue $100-200 million annually in awards to not-for-profit and municipal grantees throughout New York State. Many of these are small contracts that support housing and community development needs in specified service areas around the state.

When did you first become familiar with land banking efforts in New York?

The establishment of the New York Land Bank Act in 2011 was big news. Although my work at the time was not directly tied to land banking, most of us working in housing and community development watched the development of New York State’s new Land Bank Program with great interest.

Within a couple of years, we saw activity from the approved land banks that included applications for various housing preservation and development grants.

The 2022-23 NYS Budget included $50 million to support services and expenses of land banks. Your agency is charged with allocating the resources. Can you share some background on what this program is and how HCR is approaching program administration?

Although land banks in New York State had access to resources in the past, the funding in 2022 was the first budget item specifically reserved for the services and expenses of the approved land banks. Since this initial allocation in 2022, subsequent budget cycles have made additional resources available and demonstrate the state’s strong commitment to the objectives of the Land Bank Program and to enabling the work of the approved land banks.

There are currently 31 land banks approved by New York State. Their service areas, organizational structures, local needs and priorities vary widely. HCR is committed to providing support that meets these needs and locally identified priorities. With the funding made available, HCR has developed a program called the Land Bank Initiative (LBI) to provide a flexible source of funding to support the Land Bank activities.

What are some of the common activities land banks are utilizing the funding for?

The LBI has provided funding through a few different opportunities. These opportunities are available to all approved land banks.

To kick off the LBI in 2022, HCR offered a non-competitive funding opportunity to provide baseline operations and non-capital funding for the land banks. This initial funding is being used to support staff expenses and office operations as well as technical assistance and pre-development work to support a project pipeline. These awards were renewable to offer up to three years of consistent operational funding.

Next, HCR released a Land Bank Property Services competitive funding opportunity. This offered awards of up to $2 million to support what the land banks do: acquisition, demolition, building stabilization and all related soft costs. Each land bank proposed and is executing projects that align with its local priorities and complement other funding sources available.

Currently, the funding is available in an open-round funding opportunity to allow land banks to make requests for additional funding as earlier funds are exhausted and new strategic projects are identified. The funding opportunity allows for acquisition, demolition, building stabilization, comprehensive rehabilitation and development, and all related soft costs.

How has the program evolved since its inception?

HCR’s other grant funding sources are not generally restricted to a specific group of organizations, and we traditionally relied on competitive funding rounds to deliver funds to users and beneficiaries. This funding source reserved for a defined group of users required a shift in thinking and administration processes.

The method for the release of funds has evolved to meet land banks’ varying needs: the range of scale and demands makes it essential to allow flexibility in the timing and availability of resources.

We also want to be strategic in the release of available funding to ensure the greatest impact. We work hard to strike a balance between connecting the funds to HCR’s strategy and desired outcomes and meeting the local needs of land banks.

There are several government agencies across the country that interact with land banking efforts. Could you share any advice you have for other agencies that are interested in establishing funding opportunities for land banks?

I’ve worked as a grant program administrator for many years: over time I have learned about the challenges experienced by our not-for-profit and municipal recipients. I think the amount of time I have spent working closely with the grant recipients to troubleshoot and solve problems has made me particularly aware of and sensitive to the heavy burdens placed upon them.

My primary advice for other government agencies is to embrace any flexibility available to you and extend it to the land bank users to allow them to be responsive to local needs. In New York State, the funding source did not impose many specific requirements, and HCR works to limit the other restrictions or limitations imposed. The flexibility that the LBI offers is what allows the land banks to deliver successful projects throughout the state. It also fosters creativity that may not otherwise by realized with more restrictive funding sources with added administrative burden.

Is there anything we haven’t asked you that you would like to share with our audience?

Most of our agency’s grant program activities, operating in competitive funding rounds, have different groups of users each year. This limits their ability to coordinate with one another and rely on each other for peer learning.

However, New York’s land banks are tightly coordinated through the New York Land Bank Association (NYLBA). From my perspective, this is a key to their success. HCR joins meetings they convene to share our funding program information—we benefit from being able to reach the full group. Routine communication between NYLBA members is a benefit other types of grant recipients may not have. Most of the land banks in the state participate and although some are more active in NYLBA than others, the resource and idea sharing among them is unmatched.