Michigan Community & Neighborhood Revitalization
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Driven by the significant needs and rooted in the organization’s deep history in the state, Community Progress instituted a unique, place-based program dedicated to continually serving Michigan communities.
The Michigan Initiatives staff serve as the leading resource for local and state policies and best practices that address the full cycle of property revitalization. Our skilled staff, advisors, fellows, and consultants have helped communities across Michigan assess, reform, develop, and/or implement systems and policies to more effectively address the challenges and costs imposed by vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties with a focus on equity, inclusion, and resiliency.
To find out more, or to request technical assistance, please contact [email protected].
A team of experts from Community Progress will dive in to review the challenges your city or town faces related to the cycle of vacancy and building healthy communities. Tasks may include:
- Diagnosing the underlying factors that keep problem properties “stuck” in decline, which negatively impact neighbors and neighborhoods
- Helping communities understand their existing tools and legal powers, and design and implement new tools and solutions appropriate to local conditions and resident priorities
- Supporting the development of data-driven strategies, including innovative partnerships and funding sources, to increase the effectiveness of local efforts in support of equitable outcomes
- Guiding implementation of a community’s equitable, effective, and efficient approach to VAD properties and neighborhood disinvestment to help ensure success
In varying degrees, vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties exist in all communities and all states across the U.S. Our expert team members have worked with metropolitan centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural towns, as well as statewide coalitions, to tailor strategies, reforms, and policies that address that community’s unique challenges of vacancy and abandonment. Our goal is to offer local and state leaders new tools and knowledge, ultimately supporting their efforts to create more equitable, inclusive, healthy, and resilient neighborhoods for all.
We work closely with partner communities to customize our services to meet local conditions, needs, and priorities. Our areas of expertise include:
- Comprehensive Assessment of Policies and Systems Related to Vacancy and Abandonment
- Property Data Collection and Management Practices
- Strategic Code Enforcement
- Property Tax Enforcement and Foreclosure Reform
- Land Banks and Land Banking
- Vacant Land Maintenance, Open Space Planning, and Reuse Strategies
The following represent a small sample of technical assistance projects that we have completed in the last few years, categorized under some of our areas of expertise for reader convenience.
Comprehensive Assessment or Strategy Development to Support Vacant Property Revitalization
Islandview Greater Villages Comprehensive Neighborhood Revitalization & Green Stormwater Infrastructure Plan (Technical Assistance, 2017) Community Progress participated on the consultant team for the City of Detroit’s Planning and Development Department neighborhood planning process. Community Progress identified a refined approach to land acquisition/disposition and zoning that would more effectively support the conversion of large-scale vacant land to intentional open space and bolster residential and business stabilization and growth.
Housing Market Assessment and Strategy Considerations to Support Comprehensive Neighborhood Revitalization (Technical Assistance, 2017) Community Progress researched and developed an assessment of two neighborhoods’ housing market conditions and considerations to support a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy in the neighborhoods.
Beyond Blight: City of Flint Comprehensive Blight Elimination Framework (Technical Assistance, 2015) In support of the City of Flint’s efforts, Community Progress provided critical input into the framing and development of the Comprehensive Blight Elimination Framework, which laid out clear, actionable priorities for effective waste removal, property boarding, demolition, mowing, vacant lot reuse, building rehabilitation, and code enforcement.
Detroit Future City Strategic Framework (Technical Assistance, 2012) The Detroit Future City Plan is the result of a multi-year planning process, laying out a vision for future land use, neighborhoods, economic development, public land, and civic capacity. Community Progress participated as a consultant on the technical team, facilitated the multi-sector public land working group, and authored the Public Lands portion of the framework. This work detailed the challenges and opportunities of Detroit’s significant land holdings; provided a decision matrix for how to maintain, acquire, sell, and reuse land based on a variety of factors such as market and future land use; and outlined the steps for implementation of the land use vision relating to the reuse of public land.
Strategic Code Enforcement and Structure Reuse
Improving Property Conditions through Code Enforcement: A Review of National Best Practices (Technical Assistance, 2017) Community Progress developed an overview of characteristics of successful code enforcement programs and case studies of code enforcement components from programs across the nation to help inform local Flint stakeholders.
Community Development Working Group (Technical Assistance and Roundtable, 2017) Community Progress facilitated a cross-sector working group to proactively assess and advance solutions to macro-level challenges impeding the development of Flint’s neighborhoods as attractive places for residents to live and invest. Community Progress also researched and developed an overview of financial barriers that exist to rehabilitate residential properties in key areas.
Models to Implement Comprehensive Neighborhood-Based Strategies (Technical Assistance, 2017) Community Progress assessed and provided an overview of examples of entities that are implementing neighborhood stabilization work in cities across the nation and how anchor institutions have played a role in that implementation.
Accelerated Tax Forfeiture of Certified Abandoned Properties: A Tool to Transform Vacant, Tax Foreclosed Properties (Technical Assistance, 2016) Community Progress developed an overview on how the City of Detroit can utilize an existing tool in Michigan’s property tax foreclosure law that enables it, like other Michigan cities, to more swiftly transition properties that are vacant, blighted, and tax-delinquent to a productive use and responsible property owner.
Building an Effective Rental Registration and Certification Program to Strengthen Detroit’s Neighborhoods (Technical Assistance, 2015) Community Progress reviewed current practices and recommended ways the City could reduce residential property deterioration through more effective and efficient rental property registration and certification.
Property Tax Enforcement and Foreclosure Reform
Detroit’s Residential Property Tax Structure and Its Impact on Inclusive Housing Growth (Technical Assistance, 2017) Community Progress researched and developed an overview of the key challenges of Detroit’s current residential property tax structure and key considerations to improve Detroit’s current policies and practices to better support inclusive housing growth.
Detroit’s Property Tax Policies and Practices: An Opportunity for Reform (Research and Policy, 2016) Community Progress researched and developed a policy brief summarizing the importance of Detroit’s property tax policies and practices in the city’s overall revitalization efforts, and recommended actions, and longer-term considerations for improving this system. View Brief »
Vacant Land Maintenance, Open Space Planning, and Reuse Strategies
Detroit-Atlanta Learning Exchange (Learning Exchange, 2017) Community Progress brought a group of Detroit municipal leaders to Atlanta to learn more about the planning and implementation of innovative land reuse programs. This learning exchange specifically highlighted the Atlanta BeltLine, a public and private sector effort to repurpose thousands of acres of underutilized land, increasing access to greenspace, connecting 45 neighborhoods through trails and diversified transportation and providing new affordable and market-rate housing options.
Transforming Vacant Lots Workshop Series: Building Community Leaders’ Knowledge and Power (Place-Based Training, 2017) Community Progress developed a workshop series aimed at empowering community leaders to transform vacant lots into community assets. The three workshops provided attendees with an overview of innovative vacant lot reuses and designs from across the nation; tools for site design, project planning and budgeting; strategies to support ongoing project maintenance and stewardship; and local resources to support vacant lot reuse design and implementation.
Flint-Albany-Pittsburgh Learning Exchange (Learning Exchange, 2017) Community Progress hosted a learning exchange that brought a group of Flint and Albany, NY residents to Pittsburgh, PA to learn about an array of vacant land reuse projects and models for resident-supported implementation.
Key Considerations to Develop a Land Based Business Incubator in Detroit (Technical Assistance, 2016) Community Progress researched and developed an overview of key considerations for the City should a land-based incubator be developed in Detroit as a mechanism to grow local businesses while promoting land reuses on formally vacant, unproductive and blighted land.
Open Space in Detroit: Key Ownership and Funding Considerations (Technical Assistance, 2015) Realizing Detroit Future City’s vision of large-scale, long-term multifaceted open space will require innovative approaches to address challenges of ownership and funding given the scale of open space envisioned and the City’s fiscal constraints. Community Progress outlined a range of ownership and funding options that could support the conversion of large scale vacant land into long-term open space uses such as urban farming, solar energy production, bio fuel production, and tree farms. View Report »
Land Banks and Land Banking
Land Bank Learning Exchanges: Genesee, Detroit, and Cuyahoga County, OH (Learning Exchange, 2017) Community Progress developed two learning exchanges that brought Genesee County land bank leaders to Detroit, MI and Cuyahoga County, OH to understand current practices related to acquisition, maintenance, and disposition of land bank properties.
Michigan Association of Land Banks (MALB) Research and Capacity Building Support Community Progress continues to provide support to land banks across the state of Michigan through research, capacity building, and technical assistance.
