Blog

April 23, 2025

How Opportunity Zones 2.0 Can Leverage Existing Vacant Property Inventories

Ideas for Opportunity Zones 2.0 to leverage existing vacant properties in distressed communities, with land bank support.

April 22, 2025

What is a Land Bank?

A land bank is a public entity with unique powers to put vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties back to productive use according to community goals.

April 21, 2025

What is a Brownfield?

Brownfield properties, often referred to as “brownfields,” are properties where the presence or potential presence of hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant makes redevelopment challenging and costly.

April 10, 2025

What to Know About the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act in 2025

NHIA would create a new federal tax credit to support construction or rehabilitation of single-family homes in distressed communities.

March 10, 2025

How to Buy Property From a Land Bank

Find a land bank near you and make sure you understand what makes them different from traditional real estate sellers.

March 3, 2025

To Prevent Illegal Dumping, You Have to Know the Scale of the Problem

How to conduct a neighborhood survey to assess the scale of illegal dumping and prioritize city resources for cleanup and prevention.

February 24, 2025

Five Innovative Approaches from Land Banks Across the Country

Five examples of creative approaches land banks have taken to addressing vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties.

February 6, 2025

Meet the 2024-25 Cohort of Community Revitalization Fellows

Grassroots community leaders from Lafayette, Memphis, and Rochester share their stories and motivations for community revitalization.

January 15, 2025

Our Commitment to Code Enforcement: 2024 Recap

In 2024, Community Progress doubled down on its commitment to helping local governments use code enforcement to address VAD properties.

January 6, 2025

Opportunities to Connect Urban Conservation and Vacant Land Stewardship

In many communities, tackling vacant lots can feel like an impossible challenge. Local officials, land banks, and community organizations recognize the importance of finding effective strategies to…

Home repair is a core strategy to stop properties from becoming vacant in the first place.

What data sources you should be looking at if you’re interested in understanding, tracking, and solving property vacancy in your community.

How to write a session proposal for the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference that will get noticed.

Learn how Newark, New Jersey is leveraging an underutilized HCV provision to make homeownership a reality for low-income residents.

Examples of how philanthropic partnerships have helped land banks launch new programs to revitalize communities.

Examples of live-work unit projects that are transforming their neighborhoods through creative placemaking.

Talking about community revitalization is hard. Here’s some ways to explain vacancy when people don’t understand your work.

Examples of how land banks are transforming vacant land into climate resilience assets through flood mitigation, greening, and partnerships.

The NLBN Summit is your chance to better understand how land banks work and how they can support your goals around developing housing, reusing vacant land, and helping neighborhoods bounce back from economic decline.

Brownfield redevelopment reclaims the potential of underutilized properties, improves a neighborhood’s health and wellbeing, and can spark community revitalization.

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