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

Emergency Housing in Rural Upstate New York
How Land Banks May Help Address the Crisis

Ways that land banks in rural communities can use their powers to help address homelessness and emergency housing needs.

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 and Brownfields: Case Studies
Examples of Brownfield Redevelopment from Three Land Banks

Examples of how land banks have converted vacant, abandoned, and contaminated properties into community assets.

Land Banks

Transforming the Southland by Expanding Vacant Property Development
Recommendations for the South Suburban Land Bank and Development Authority

Recommendations for improving strategic development outcomes of the land bank’s inventory, specifically focusing on developing housing.

Code Enforcement System, Local Analysis

An Assessment of Code Enforcement Strategies in Lima, Ohio
Observations and Recommendations

How Lima can address its vacant and abandoned buildings and lots to improve community wellbeing.

Land Banks, Local Analysis

Creating Homeownership Opportunities in Newark through Housing Choice Vouchers
A Newark Land Bank Case Study

How the Newark Land Bank is using Housing Choice Vouchers to help people become homeowners.

Brownfields, Land Banks

Land Banks & Brownfield Redevelopment
A Step-by-Step Overview

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

Local Analysis

Addressing Vacant, Abandoned, and Deteriorated Properties in Arkansas
A Policy Brief

Arkansas communities face sizable challenges with vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties—what many call “blighted” properties. These challenges encompass vacant commercial properties in the state’s rural main streets and urban downtowns, abandoned houses and overgrown lots in residential neighborhoods, and deteriorated structures scattered throughout rural and agricultural communities. Nearly 30…

Code Enforcement System, Land Banks, Local Analysis, Property Tax System

Enhancing Capacity to Repurpose New Jersey’s Vacant Properties
How to Advance Community Goals Through Land Banking and Other Tools

This brief is a product of the New Jersey Land Bank Launch Initiative. The competition for land (with and without structures) is being felt acutely across the Garden State. Since the pandemic, many New Jersey communities have seen markets flip almost overnight, with an influx of new residents who had…

Land Banks, Racial Equity

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

For nearly 15 years, the Center for Community Progress has tirelessly worked with hundreds of land bank leaders, practitioners, partners, and allies to help land banks revitalize their communities. Through our expert guidance, resources, leadership programming, policy advocacy, and the National Land Bank Network (NLBN), we have been an integral…

Publications

Topic

Geography