Publications

Community Progress publishes reports, case studies, and toolkits to help communities across the country turn vacant spaces into vibrant places. Download hundreds of free resources today, and sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest publications directly in your inbox.

Parcel Data & Neighborhood Markets

Progress Points: Neighborhood Markets and Data
A Brief Primer

This brief explains why understanding local real estate markets and how they affect the community is essential to addressing vacant properties.

Property Tax System

Progress Points: Delinquent Property Tax Enforcement
A Brief Primer

This brief explains how equitable, efficient, and effective property tax enforcement can be powerful tool in interrupting the cycle of neighborhood decline.

State/National Analysis

Progress Points: 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.

Creative Placemaking

Progress Points: Creative Placemaking
A Brief Primer

Download a brief explainer of creative placemaking, what it is, and why it’s important for communities.

Land Banks

Progress Points: Demonstrating the Positive Impacts of Land Banks
A Brief Primer

Download a one-page explainer on how land banks provide positive impact on the communities they serve.

Land Banks

Progress Points: Land Banks and Community Land Trusts
A Brief Primer

Download a one-page explainer on what land banks and community land trusts are, the differences, and how they can provide lasting housing affordability.

Land Banks

Progress Points: Land Banks
A Brief Primer

Download a one-page explainer on what land banks are, and why they’re important.

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, State/National Analysis

Land Banks and Community Land Trusts
Partnering to Provide Equitable Housing Opportunities Now and for Future Generations

In this report, you’ll learn about the key differences between land banks and community land trusts, and how together they have the potential to help reverse the trajectory of disinvestment to unlock a pipeline of vacant and deteriorated homes to quality, affordable housing for generations.

State/National Analysis

State Policy and Problem Property Regulation
A Resource for Practitioners and Policymakers at the State and Local Level

This report is a property regulation resource for practitioners and policymakers at the state and local levels. It focuses on the central theme that state laws and regulations largely determine what local governments can or cannot do to regulate problem properties and is designed to be useful to people working to frame more effective strategies to deal with problem properties and work with state governments and legislatures to enact new laws and amend older ones to that end.

Land Banks, Racial Equity

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

There are over 300 land banks and land banking programs operating across the United States, and the field has come a long way since the first land banks formed in the early 1970s. For over 40 years, land banks have kept a sharp focus on removing harmful vacant, abandoned, and…

Land Banks, Racial Equity

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

On May 25, 2023, the US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, making a significant incursion into the state and local government practice of property tax foreclosure. In short, the Tyler decision posits that tax foreclosure is solely a debt collection tool and that local…

Land Banks, Local Analysis

Exploring the Utility and Value of Creating a Land Bank in Atlantic City
New Jersey Land Bank Launch Technical Assistance Scholarship

This memorandum summarizes key takeaways, observations, and recommendations for the U.S. HART CARES leadership team (US HART) and the City of Atlantic City (City) to consider as they explore implementation of a land bank to address vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties in Atlantic City. Program Background Virtually all communities…

Land Banks, Local Analysis

Assessment of VAD Strategies and a Land Bank in Salem, New Jersey
New Jersey Land Bank Launch Technical Assistance Scholarship

This memorandum summarizes key takeaways, observations, and recommendations for the City of Salem (City) and its partner, the Cumberland County Improvement Authority (The Authority) to consider as they explore implementation of a land bank to address vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties in Salem City and the region. Program Background …

Creative Placemaking

How Local Governments Can Facilitate Creative Placemaking on Vacant Property
Recommendations for Policy and Practice

Creative placemaking is the practice of enhancing a neighborhood’s quality of life through arts, culture, and intentional community development to meet the vision of the people who live, work, and play there. This practice takes various forms, including but not limited to temporary visual art installations, performance events, and permanent…

Land Banks

Sample Land Bank Long-Term Housing Affordability Disposition Policy
A Resource for Land Banks and Their Community Land Trust Partners

A resource for land banks and their community land trust partners outlining a framework for disposition policies that incentivize long-term affordable housing.

Brownfields

Brownfield Remediation & Reuse
A Brief Primer

Brownfield properties, often referred to as “brownfields,” are properties where the presence or potential presence of a hazardous chemical or pollutant makes it challenging, risky, and costly to redevelop. While many people think of brownfields as large, abandoned factories or chemical processing plants, the true scope of brownfield properties is…

Land Banks

Land Banks in New Jersey
A Tool for Addressing Problem Properties to Serve Community Goals

Across the country, over 300 land banks are mitigating the harms of vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties on neighbors and neighborhoods, and advancing equitable, inclusive, and resilient communities. Land banks have profound positive impact in the communities they serve including stabilizing neighborhoods and property values of neighboring homes, addressing…

Brownfields, Land Banks

How to Form a Land Bank
A 10-Step Guide

A ten-step guide to forming a land bank in your community.

Publications

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Geography