What does a successful land bank look like?

What does a successful land bank look like?

It’s one of the questions our new report, Take it to the Bank: How Land Banks Are Strengthening America’s Neighborhoods, explores. Based on our research, there are a number of common characteristics critical to successful land banking. The following is a breakdown of these five key characteristics as laid out in Take it to the Bank. (Curious for more information? Check out pages 11-13 of the report).

1) Strategic links to the tax collection and foreclosure process

Successful land banks can and should play a key role in acquiring and converting tax-foreclosed properties to productive use.

2) Operations scaled in response to local land use goals

Successful land banks have established acquisition and disposition strategies that directly support the implementation of local land use goals and meet community needs.

3) Policy-driven, transparent, and publicly accountable transactions

Successful land banks have gone to great lengths to build and maintain trust with the public through complete transparency in the establishment of priorities, policies, and procedures that govern all actions.

4) Engagement with residents and other community stakeholders

Successful land banks have found creative and consistent ways to inform, engage, and empower these active residents to help prioritize land bank interventions and develop long-term solutions.

5) Alignment with other local or regional tools and community programs

Successful land banks have helped facilitate and support diverse collaborations across public, private, and nonprofit organizations that share similar economic and community development goals.

Download a PDF of the full report, or preorder a hard copy here. You can also join the conversation on Twitter using #tothebank, or in our Vacant and Problem Properties Innovators LinkedIn Group.