Blog

Community Progress regularly posts to this blog on a range of related topics to help communities across the country turn vacant spaces into vibrant places. Please check back regularly, and sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest news directly in your inbox.

December 12, 2023

State of Land Banking: 2023 Survey Highlights

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

November 28, 2023

Answering Big Questions Following Tyler v. Hennepin County

Answering the most common and important questions we’ve heard about property tax foreclosure in the wake of Tyler v. Hennepin County.

October 12, 2023

ARPA SLFRF Update: Interim Final Rule Expands Eligible Uses

The ARPA SLFRF expanded eligible uses allow funds to be deployed to help address vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties in new ways.

October 9, 2023

What Is a Tax Lien Sale and Why Is It a Bad Way of Dealing with Vacant Properties?

Tax lien sales are one way that cities and counties try to recoup some of the public dollars they’ve spent maintaining properties abandoned by private owners. But tax lien sales rarely fix the problem, nor lead to a vacant property being returned to productive use.

September 27, 2023

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.

September 20, 2023

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.

September 13, 2023

Looking Back at the 2020-21 Community Revitalization Fellowship: Creative Placemaking by Community Leaders from Three Cities

Learn about creative placemaking projects by residents of Birmingham, Alabama; Reading, Pennsylvania; and Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

September 5, 2023

Meet Kat Guillaume-Delemar, President & CEO of Community Progress

For Kat Guillaume-Delemar, community revitalization is a deeply personal journey.

August 29, 2023

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.

August 24, 2023

Explaining the Cycle of Systemic Vacancy

Systemic vacancy is the community experience of widespread property vacancy caused by the combined actions of people, policies, and processes.

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Celebrating Legislative Wins to Combat Vacancy in Missouri and Alabama

Effective legislation is a vital piece of equipping state and local governments to effectively address vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties (VAD). Through our Land Bank Incubator Scholarship Program, over the last three years Community Progress has been honored to support local efforts to craft and advance these pieces of legislation….

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…

Mourning Gus Frangos (1954 – 2024)

It is with deep sorrow that we mourn the passing of Gus Frangos, Founder and President of the Cuyahoga Land Bank.

FHA Updates 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance Program to Increase Accessibility

Revisions to the 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance Program aim to make it more accessible and effective and increase the number of 203(k) consultants.

How to Convince Your Boss to Send You to the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference

So you want to attend the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference (RVP). It sounds awesome, right? Three days of networking, learning relevant skills, and seeing real-life examples of neighborhood revitalization up close. But your boss needs some convincing. After all, you’ll have to be away from your day job and spend…

How Community Partners and Local Governments Collaborate to Address Heirs’ Property

Residents who live near vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties acutely understand their negative physical, mental, and financial impacts. But each VAD property has a unique story—and that property’s history is not always obvious. Imagine your family has a home that has been passed down through multiple generations. Your grandparents…

Why Heirs’ Property is a Problem for Vacancy and Abandonment

To address vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties, local governments must first identify what types of VAD properties exist in the community. Some properties are abandoned with no mortgage and near tax foreclosure. Some fall into disrepair during a long mortgage foreclosure process. In other cases, a property owner may…

Driving Change: A Mid-Year Reflection from Community Progress

A letter from our CEO & President about our work in the first six months of 2024.

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.

What is the Neighborhood Revitalization and Land Banking Act?

The bipartisan bill is an important step in giving rural, urban, and suburban communities the tools to address “blighted” properties. The key focus of the bill is providing support to land banks, a tool many communities are adopting to support economic and neighborhood revitalization.

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