Publications

United States

Code Enforcement System

Raising the Bar
Linking Landlord Incentives and Regulation through Rental Licensing – A Short Guide for Local Officials

Regulating the condition and operation of rental housing is a major challenge for local governments. This report offers guidance on helping municipalities get the most out of a licensing system, improving the quality of rental management, and offering incentives to responsible landlords.

Vacant Land Stewardship

Boosting Productivity
Lessons from the Green Reuse and Vacant Land Maintenance Learning Exchange

This report shares the findings from a learning exchange with Detroit and New Orleans around strategies to meet community needs and reduce public land maintenance costs through vacant land reuse.

Land Banks

Land Banks and Land Banking, 2nd Edition
The Authoritative Resource on Modern Land Banking

Land Banks and Land Banking, 2nd Ed., provides clear historic context about the development of land banking and foundational information about when a land bank is the right tool, and the fundamentals of how land banks work.

Land Banks, State & Local Analysis

Take it to the Bank
How Land Banks Are Strengthening America's Neighborhoods

In Take it to the Bank: How Land Banks Are Strengthening America’s Neighborhoods, the Center for Community Progress’ research of more than half the nation’s land banks reveals this and other trends in the growing land bank movement.

Parcel Data & Neighborhood Markets, State & Local Analysis

Who’s Moving to the Cities, Who Isn’t
Comparing American Cities

The fact that something is happening in American cities is beyond dispute. Is it just about the march of the millennials to the cities, or, as many writers claim, is it about a shift in preferences cutting across generations; and is it affecting all American cities to roughly the same extent, or are certain cities benefiting, while others are falling behind?

Code Enforcement System, Parcel Data & Neighborhood Markets

Just, Smart
Civil Rights Protections and Market-Sensitive Vacant Property Strategies

This report explore primary areas of civil rights protections and reviews the civil rights vulnerabilities of code enforcement and land banking strategies that manage properties differently based on the neighborhood market context in which they are located.

Creative Placemaking, State & Local Analysis

Placemaking in Legacy Cities
Opportunities and Good Practices

Placemaking in Legacy Cities: Opportunities and Good Practices explores how residents and leaders in Legacy Cities have used placemaking principles to transform blighted public spaces into revitalized community assets.

Parcel Data & Neighborhood Markets, Property Tax System, State & Local Analysis

Long-Term Stress and Systemic Failure
Taking Seriously the Fiscal Crisis of America’s Older Cities

This report – written for America’s older cities in the wake of the recession, but with lessons for all cities that face fiscal stress – suggests a new approach to end the cycle of decline that has trapped many municipalities.

Land Banks

Land Banks and Land Banking (2011)
A Community Progress Research Report

As a follow-up to the 2005 seminal land bank text, the new Land Banks and Land Banking, authored by Frank S. Alexander, offers public officials and community leaders a step-by-step guide for taking control of problem properties and then leveraging them to spur smart development and meet community needs.

State & Local Analysis

Restoring Properties, Rebuilding Communities
Transforming Vacant Properties in Today’s America

This report offers a systemic look at the problem and evaluates actions that can be taken by federal, state and local governments, as well as community organizations, private foundations and real estate developers to stem the tide of increasing vacancy rates and meet the challenges presented by already vacant properties.

Community Revitalization

Progress Points: The Cost of Systemic Vacancy
A Brief Primer

What is systemic vacancy and how is it different from just a couple of vacant properties? This onepager provides a brief explainer.

Community Revitalization, Land Banks, State & Local Analysis

Breaking Barriers for Under-Resourced Developers
Insights and Recommendations for Developers, Philanthropists, Land Banks, and Other Stakeholders

The challenges under-resourced affordable housing developments face and how key partners can support them.

Vacant Land Stewardship

Progress Points: Vacant Land Stewardship
A Brief Primer

Download a one-page explainer on what vacant land stewardship is, and why it’s important.

Land Banks

2025 State of Land Banking Survey Snapshot
Key Takeaways

This one-pager of our 2025 State of Land Banking summarizes survey results.

Code Enforcement System

Code Enforcement Training Guide
A Strategic Curriculum for Local Practitioners Nationwide

A guide to training your code enforcement officers to help achieve your department’s ultimate goal: Compliance.

Brownfields, Land Banks

Emerging Practices & Practical Considerations for Land Banks & Brownfield Redevelopment
A Practical Guide

Practical guidance and case studies for land banks that want to redevelop contaminated vacant and abandoned properties.

Brownfields, Land Banks

Land Banks & Brownfield Redevelopment: Step by Step
A Brief Overview

A step-by-step guide for how land banks can redevelop polluted or contaminated properties and put them back to productive use.

Land Banks

The Road Ahead for Land Banks
Opportunities for Growth and Greater Equity

A report on the current state of land banks and where land banks are going in the future.

Land Banks

How Land Banks Are Leading Racial Justice Efforts
Moving from Vision to Action for Equitable Development

It is not a coincidence that systemic vacancy—and its associated social, economic, and environmental harms—disproportionately affects Black and Brown neighborhoods. This is the result of decades of racist, inequitable policies and institutional disinvestment. Land banks are a powerful tool to break this cycle of vacancy, coordinate new investments in long-neglected…

Property Tax System

Policy Brief: Tyler v. Hennepin County in 2024
Updated Analysis and Policy Reform Options

Updated analysis for 2024 about the implications of Tyler v. Hennepin County on communities’ ability to tackle vacancy properties.