Building on that vision, over the past two years we’ve developed a variety of tools and strategies and expanded relationships with advocates and government leaders across the nation.

At a time when many U.S. cities and towns continue to struggle under the dual burdens of a national foreclosure crisis and a tough economy, a growing number of communities have reached out to us for help. Our work – and the results – have been enormously gratifying. We’ve helped a growing number of civic leaders and local advocates embrace an expanding toolkit of strategies to repurpose vacant and abandoned properties – from improving the way they handle tax lien sales and code enforcement to identifying new mechanisms for financing land banks. Our new annual report documents both the practical assistance we bring to the table for communities in need, and a series of powerful examples of the kinds of sweeping transformations that our work has produced on the ground.

The future promises to be as intense as the past has been, with a full schedule of conferences already well underway, as well as a range of new legislation and revitalization activities in localities across the country. The strength of our work is built on our partnerships – with funders, civic leaders, stakeholders and experts in the field. These collaborations make possible the transformation of whole communities.

This week, I begin a leave of absence from Community Progress in order to run for Congress. I am confident that this organization will continue to be the important voice and source of ideas for the people of America’s cities and towns.

Dan Kildee
President, Center for Community Progress

While many housing and community activists have long intuited that well-financed “vacant property speculators” were wreaking havoc in their communities – driving down prices, prolonging vacancies and spreading blight – a new study by the Cleveland Fed both substantiates their suspicions and opens up the discussion about thoughtful solutions.

The Cleveland Fed’s study documents that the majority of vacant homes that are bought from private owners or at tax sales by individuals or small operators are eventually bought and their taxes paid. On the other hand, properties bought by “speculators” – those who make a business of buying and flipping vacant homes — much more frequently remain vacant, unmaintained and tax delinquent, causing distress and blight for neighbors and governments alike.

In a study of vacant properties sold in Cuyahoga County between 2007 and 2010, the Fed found that only 15% of the properties bought by individuals remained vacant in 2010 – but a full 31% of those properties bought by large-scale investors remained vacant. More distressing is the fact that while the delinquent taxes on properties bought by individuals almost always get paid, professional ‘flippers’ resolved tax delinquency on only 13% of their properties resolved their tax delinquency – extending the period of time in which government loses revenue and houses stand vacant.

While the ‘evil-doers’ may be the large land speculators, the Cleveland Fed points out that it is the system of property transfers itself that is fundamentally at fault and that must be fixed. Today, there is no “downside” or cost to large-scale speculation. In most locales – and especially in very depressed housing markets – so-called “investors” can purchase property for as little as a few hundred dollars and sell this property to a third party for hundreds or thousands of dollars more, in a sale that is recorded as legitimate by the relevant county – without any requirement that the seller/speculator pay past due taxes or maintained the property to even minimum standards. In rare instances, the third party buyer who finds that he or she owes thousands of dollars in delinquent taxes actually pays up – but all too often the buyer simply walks away. For speculators, it’s a great system – they have little risk, no responsibility and the potential of great reward.

However, for those of us concerned with the well-being of our communities and the sustainability of our local governments, there is great risk and changing the system is a necessity. The Cleveland Fed suggests two paths of action – both of which the Center for Community Progress has long championed. They call for changes in state laws that require payment of all delinquent taxes and liens BEFORE a property transfer can be completed and certified by the various County Recorders of Deed. This makes obvious sense – it would encourage legitimate buyers and discourage quick-buck speculators, since they would have to pay up before getting paid off.

The Fed also suggests creating and utilizing land banks – locally managed entities to which property buyers or owners could relinquish properties that they cannot financially support – ensuring that the property can then be positioned for productive reuse by a responsible party. The land bank in Cuyahoga County and the one I established in Genesee County Michigan already play that role, and have restored thousands of properties to productive use – and up-to-date tax payments.

In addition, I would counsel the replication of ordinances such as those recently passed in Illinois, both by the City of Chicago and the Cook County Board of Commissioners. These ordinances, like those in place in communities across the country, require that any purchaser, owner or servicer of a vacant property register that property and take responsibility for the property’s maintenance, security, taxes and insurance – creating a cost to the neglect that typically accompanies irresponsible speculation where there was none before.

If we are going to make progress in stabilizing neighborhoods and rebuilding the housing market, we cannot allow reckless and often willfully irresponsible speculation to continue – with short-term profiteers ditching their maintenance expenses on taxpayers while they reap the profits of a system that falls short in encouraging responsible re-use. By reforming the process of land sales for distressed properties, by holding owners and mortgagees accountable for the condition of their abandoned houses, and by creating land banks as an alternative to low-end speculation, America’s cities and towns may not be able to stop greed and unethical speculation, but at least those who prey on weak markets won’t have an ally in City Hall.

Read the original article on The Huffington Post.

In May of 2005, at the conclusion of the first land bank conference we ever held, I was approached by two sweet sounding women from Arkansas. They had made the trek to my hometown of Flint to learn about how a land bank might help their hometown of Little Rock.

“How would you like a free trip to Little Rock, Arkansas?’ they asked. At the time, I could not have known that the question posed by Myra Jones and Joan Adcock was not really the plaintive request it seemed. It was a done deal – they knew then that I was going to Little Rock. It was just a matter of when.

I meet a lot of people in my travels, people of all kinds and from all sorts of interesting places. But there was something special about Joan and Myra. They were a tenacious pair.

Sadly, I learned yesterday from Joan that Myra, our friend and ally in fighting for a better Little Rock, had died rather suddenly.

Until I heard the news, I had not quite realized the effect Myra has had on me. Myra was one of those people you just can’t shake. She was an original. She had interesting friends, interesting stories. She made friends fast, and kept them. She loved people and especially loved Little Rock.

I recall my first trip to Little Rock. Myra picked me up at the airport, as she did for nearly every one of my many visits there since. She insisted – always. On that day, Myra gave me the first of many tours of Little Rock. We never went straight to a meeting. We always took some circuitous route and saw her city – and I heard the stories she loved to tell.

She knew her hometown. She told me tales of the people and places of Little Rock – who lived in that house, who started that business…who was married to whom….how she first met “Bill” (Clinton, that is…another of her lifelong friends). Her stories made Little Rock come alive to me…it’s one of the few places I visit where I really feel at home.

As we drove around Little Rock, I came to know this amazing and somewhat flirtatious being, She had an interesting story – the first woman elected to a full term as a Little Rock City Director (Council member), after which she was elected to the Arkansas legislature and served 14 years there. She knew Bill and Hillary Clinton as just friends – before any of us had ever heard of them. She knew Senators, Governors, members of Congress all on a first name basis. More precisely, they knew her.

Myra had quite a resume – musician, lobbyist, City Director, state Legislator – but the thing that sticks with me more than anything was her tenacity on behalf of her community. She was a person who understood and exercised leadership.

She was never constrained by the role she was supposed to play. Even after she left public office, she just kept on working to make her city better. Myra went beyond her formal authority. She created disequilibrium. Myra was a squeaky wheel for Little Rock. And she got things done. Without Myra, lots of the good and interesting things I would see on those driving tours of her city would never have been there. Without Myra, there would certainly never have been a Little Rock Land Bank.

I am sure this is a tough time for the community of Little Rock. They have lost a friend and a champion for their community. And Joan Adcock, now a City Director herself, has lost her close friend and ally of 40 years.

But at this moment, to me, I feel like our community – those of us who believe in the cities of America and are willing to challenge the status quo to try to make those places better – we have lost one of our own too. We will miss her.

I know I will.

The CFPB – the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – released new regulations to ensure that “non-banks” – independent lenders, brokers, servicers, and others unaffiliated with banks and depository institutions – play by the same rules as banks. Why does this matter? Because lack of regulation and oversight in this part of the financial sector played a huge role in the bad practices – from fee price gouging to sub-prime loan steering – that helped create the crisis in today’s housing market.

We can expect more of this kind of civically driven policy from the CFPB in the coming months – the agency’s new director, Richard Cordray, has a long track record of putting in place the kinds of policies and practices that bring real benefits to working families and communities in his home state of Ohio.

I worked with Rich when he was State Treasurer in Ohio, when civic leaders were first beginning the effort to conceptualize Ohio’s land bank strategy. His commitment to policies that help struggling communities rebuild has earned him the respect of groups that range from grassroots community groups like the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative to the Greater Ohio Policy Center.

Rich participated in the 2006 Ohio Vacant Properties summit that helped launch the ReBuild Ohio
Initiative – a consortium of local governments, nonprofits and civic organizations that came together to work collaboratively to address vacant and abandoned property issues in Ohio.

Rich understands the importance of bringing together stakeholders and communities to support interconnected strategies to rebuild our communities – from state-level reforms in legislation, policies and practices to thoughtful efforts to connect land reuse policies with regional sustainability strategies.

As Ohio Attorney General, Rich called for greater assistance for communities fighting the blight and economic decline that can be spurred by high foreclosure rates. He was one of a dozen state attorneys general who undertook a rigorous study of the dynamic of foreclosure, including the need to tackle foreclosure rescue scams created to prey on desperate homeowners – and went after the scammers in court. And he used his offices to connect homeowners with the help they needed to keep their homes.

The CFPB’s mission is grounded in a commitment to ensure that financial products – from credit cards to mortgage applications – “work for Americans” in the words of the agency. We deserve the same kind of protection from unscrupulous practices in the financial industry as we’re guaranteed by federal oversight agencies that ensure that we’re taking safe medicines and drinking safe water.

Rich Cordray understands that mission. He brings a history of commitment to the well-being and durability of our communities and the people who call them home. We’ll need that kind of commitment and tenacity as elements in the financial sector gear up for policies like bulk foreclosure sales and expanded land banking – strategies that with the right oversight can bring real benefits to communities in these tough economic times.

Dan Kildee, President, Center for Community Progress

This week, at the invitation of the Center for Community Progress, Baltimore Housing’s finest, including Deputy Commissioner Michael Braverman, Assistant Commissioner Jason Hessler and Assistant Commissioner Eric Booker, along with the “A-Team” of Code Enforcement consultants and experts (Joe Schilling, Kermit Lind and Doug Leeper), took in teams from three cities – Atlanta, Memphis and New Orleans – and listened to us, inspired us and challenged us with the Baltimore code enforcement story as the backdrop. What Baltimore Housing has accomplished in the approximately seven years since Braverman took the reins is nothing short of remarkable. But the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, and those of us privileged to be in attendance at the workshop came away with a strong sense of encouragement and with a number of ideas that we hope to try out back home right away, and others that we will aspire to implement over time as the opportunities arise.

Blight is not new for any of our cities, and we all reluctantly acknowledged that it is with us to stay. In Baltimore, of 11,000 problem vacant structures, a realistic permanent solution is likely attainable in the short term in only 1,000 cases. The other 10,000 would only be feasible to address aggressively with a capital infusion of literally hundreds of millions of dollars. Due to population loss in the long term and the economic downturn in the short term, our cities are simply overbuilt and there is no market for a significant number of buildings. Recognizing this fact is a crucial first step towards crafting a reasonable solution to solving problem properties that recognizes market realities and targets limited resources at interventions that will yield the best results. In other words, we aren’t going to eliminate blight. But there are steps we can and should take which will have an exponential impact on the problem.

Another important realization that the Memphis team has come to is that solutions to code enforcement challenges are of necessity hyper-local. There are innumerable variations between and among state and local laws, ordinances, practices, and politics touching on code enforcement issues. This means that while it is extremely helpful and instructive to observe and learn about successful code enforcement solutions in different cities, the hard work of crafting a plan to maximize the code enforcement enterprise is left to local governments – experts can help, but there is no silver bullet.

Members of the Memphis team, which includes Memphis CAO George Little, Environmental Court Judge Larry Potter, Assistant City Attorney Patrick Dandridge and myself, are ready to roll up our sleeves and begin to incrementally move towards an improved system. Some of the goals we will be working towards are to build capacity of the legal arm of code enforcement, to expand training opportunities for inspectors and build an “esprit de corps”, to build capacity of the investigative arm of code enforcement, to establish more predictable and measurable processes from “boots on the ground” inspections to compliance, and to implement these processes using sensible software solutions that allow for greater efficiency, transparency and accountability.

So with the Baltimore Housing team leading the way, we are doing our part to bring the “sexy” back to Code Enforcement. If you want to win on the front lines of the battle against blight, the first thing you need to do is be sure your soldiers are reporting for duty with the ammunition, support and fire power necessary to win.

Steve Barlow is an attorney with Brewer & Barlow PLC in Memphis who serves as Special Counsel to the City of Memphis responsible for the litigation component of Mayor A.C. Wharton Jr.’s “Campaign to End Blight”. He is also proud to be a 2011 Community Progress Leadership Institute Graduate.

Legacy cities, those cities that have lost substantial population and business but remain important in the American landscape, continue to capture the imagination of policy makers, artists, entrepreneurs and the media.  The future of such cities is not uniform and depends on a mix of history, culture, local economic conditions and just plain old luck. Some commentators claim that these cities are on the vanguard of the great municipal fiscal crisis hitting the country; others more optimistically claim they are the new “it” place for young people and will soon turn the corner.

I would propose that both are right — that the future of many local economies in legacy cities may actually be turning the corner from the despair of the last thirty years.  However (there is always a however), the fiscal future of such cities may be less certain. Witness, Pittsburgh, PA; where economic health has not translated into fiscal health.  Pittsburgh is a cautionary tale of the legacy costs (retiree pensions and health care promises) burdening a city government and threatening that city’s economic health.  City governments have made big promises to people that will be hard to keep.

I would make the case that fiscal and economic health do not go hand in hand.  No legacy city can fully recover economically as long as its city government remains mired in burdensome legacy costs that retard fiscal health.  The private sector cannot and will not fully replace government; city services still matter.   Shrinking a city will likely reduce some costs such as infrastructure maintenance and allow a city to reallocate resources from weak market areas to strong market areas.  The fact remains that this in and of itself won’t necessarily fix the legacy cost problem.

Some of these shrinking city savings might go into the legacy cost pot, but will it be enough? These legacy costs aren’t unique to legacy cities but they represent a much bigger problem to such places. It is time to recognize that it will take a number of tools to fix the problem. Our research suggests that for many Midwest cities, the future is one where legacy costs consume the entire city budget.  Already, some small industrial cities have become pension funds rather than providers of services.  No amount of land use restructuring can fix that problem.  Restructuring long term obligations, radically shifting workforce policies and aggressively seeking out private partners will all be part of the mix. These changes are going to take the will of our state legislatures to make some significant policy shifts. But the benefits of the changes are real and will allow fiscal health to be restored.

Fiscal health can be the solid foundation that serves as partner rather than barrier to economic health. It is time to combine a policy of reallocation of public services within city boundaries, and the resulting operational cost savings, with a policy to address legacy costs – a policy that will be the new building block of economic and fiscal health for legacy cities.

Dr. Eric Scorsone, Michigan State University

Cities and towns invited to participate in the Summer Institute for Community Leadership were those that have shown a commitment to neighborhood revitalization, and have either begun to implement systems reforms for problem properties or have indicated an interest in doing so.  In July, city officials and community development leaders representing thirteen NJ cities (including the original five) converged in Trenton prepared to tackle the vacant and abandoned properties challenges that affect each of their cities.

Attendees were enthusiastic about not only learning strategies for reclaiming these problem properties, but also in sharing what has and hasn’t worked in their own communities. They not only heard from experts on data systems, code enforcement, and reuse planning, but attendees themselves lead discussions courtesy of event facilitator J Otis Smith, whose energetic style encouraged working groups to dive deep into problems and solutions facing their cities.

The Summer Institute for Community Leadership’s goal was to help equip these communities to transform themselves into thriving places again, drawing on the significant resources in institutional and human capital that they already possess or are able to marshal. The Institute was designed in part to help participants shape strategies that foster the creation of homes and jobs in economically and environmentally viable places that have good access to transit and the other civic resources that these cities possess or can develop.

This event gave participants much to absorb, and armed them with new tools to get started on transforming their communities. However, by the end, many were asking “what next?” Based on overwhelming interest, the Network plans to once again partner with the Center for Community Progress to host another session in the fall, this time focused primarily on land banking. Land banks seem to be a tool gaining traction across the country, and many Summer Institute participants felt they could be viable for their cities.

If the Summer Institute for Community Leadership has shown us anything, it’s that there is a strong desire and willingness to put new tools into practice that can help transform New Jersey communities into thriving places to live and work. Leaders understand that to do so begins in their own backyards, and are prepared to commit themselves to the hard work that lies ahead.

To view photos and videos from the Summer Institute for Community Leadership, visit the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hcdnnj. Check out a news story on “abandominiums” in the City of Trenton, a Summer Institute participant.

Nina Arce is with the Housing and Community Development Network of NJ

But, as pointed out in a new blog post on STABLIZE – the Blog of STABLEcommunities.org – all land banks are not created equal. The post summarizes four critical elements in building an effective land bank.

For the full STABLIZE blog, visit http://www.stablecommunities.org/node/1912.

It’s starting to get hot down here in Georgia, and not just because summer is here. Now that Senate Bill 284 has been introduced, the hard work is really getting started for a group of Georgians representing a diverse coalition of cities and counties, community and neighborhood advocates, and non-profit developers – as diverse, in fact, as the state itself. In a state with only one large urban area, surrounded by many more rural and suburban counties and smaller cities with vastly different sets of problems and perspectives, organization will be key to passing this bill that would make our existing land bank statute more effective for communities to return problem properties to productive use. A few changes in particular, such as endowing land banks with greater options at tax sales, providing increased options for financing land bank operations, and allowing multiple counties to form a land bank are especially needed in times of widespread foreclosures and tighter local budgets. Our group is excited by what lays in store over the next year as we work together on getting the bill passed.

We’ve taken steps to be organized in our approach, but organization must be built around consistent, effective messages that can be nimbly employed in unexpected situations. Already a few small protests of SB 284 have begun to surface online, based on concerns surrounding eminent domain and private property rights. In a post-Kelo era, it is critical that this diverse group that represents many stakeholders educate Georgia citizens and elected officials to understand that land banks explicitly do not have the ability to exercise eminent domain.  Property rights concerns are justifiably strong throughout the state, so SB 284 supporters must also continually re-emphasize that land banks in fact protect the property values of responsible, tax-paying property owners that may have the misfortune of living next door to delinquent or neglected properties of absentee or institutional investors. In anticipation of any unexpected situations, the group has finalized a list of FAQs and a section-by-section explanation of SB 284 so that supporters are all speaking a common language when engaging in outreach and communication.

Though land banks have been operating in Georgia for close to twenty years, serving as a base for innovation and lessons in other states, learning about SB 284 will serve as many Georgians’ first introduction to land banking. Supporters of SB 284 are motivated by a central belief that everyone can agree on the need to stabilize neighborhoods and property values, particularly when done so by sprucing up a tool Georgia has had in its back pocket all along.

Jaimye Bartak, AICP, is Program Manager, Livable Communities Coalition

An adjective made up by the actress, author, producer, Renaissance woman, Tina Fey, meaning “completely overwhelmed but proceeding as if everything is fine and reacting to the stress with the torpor of a possum.”

Only a few weeks on the job here at the Center for Community Progress and I am constantly reminded of the importance of local leadership with any land reform initiative. For the past five years I worked as the Director of Neighborhood Initiatives for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in the City of Pittsburgh. What did my job entail? It depended on the day … parking, pensions, people, public safety, and sometimes even possums (thank you, Animal Control). Most days I, along with many others in local government, felt equal parts “blorft” and privileged at being a public servant. In cities like Pittsburgh and many other legacy cities across the country, one of the biggest issues facing local leadership is abandoned, vacant and problem properties. The question is how do you address this issue with so many other pressures facing cities and towns across our country?

The answer : you don’t have a choice.

Well, in actuality, you always have a choice but some of the most stunning examples of local leadership are those who have recognized that to shape the destiny of their city and town is to take control of these problem properties. By doing nothing, costs a whole lot of something. Loss of equity in adjacent properties, public safety personnel responding to calls, loss of tax revenue, and the list goes on. By doing something, you exemplify leadership at its best:  managed risk with return on investment. You manage the risk of taking control of a property that may or may not have immediate market value knowing that further deterioration of that property and others around it will not continue.

At the end of the day, most local leaders are facing enormous fiscal challenges and doing their best to ensure that each and every day basic general services are provided to their residents. Pension fund obligations are mounting and in cities like Pittsburgh, our population is half of what it was 50 years ago yet our pension obligations continue rising. Comprehensive strategies to land reform such as tax foreclosure, code enforcement, land banking and community gardening are just a few ways to help stabilize the tax base and ensure a quality of life for all residents. I am proud and excited to work for an organization like the Center for Community Progress that can provide expertise and hands-on assistance to local leaders across the country on all of these strategies and more.

And to think, just two years ago I was sitting at a National Vacant Properties Conference in Louisville listening to these two people talk about this thing called land banking and I had my “a-ha” moment. Thank you Dan Kildee and Amy Hovey and the rest of the team here at Community Progress for providing other local leaders across the country with these” a-ha” moments. We are all here ready, willing and able to help assist with that enormous task of rubber meeting the road. 

Most importantly, if there is one take away from all of this, it’s for each of you to take a moment and remember to thank your local leaders for the yeoman’s work they do each and every day. It means more than you know and really helps with those days filled with blorft.

I look forward to working with all of you … goodbye Pittsburgh and hello Washington DC!

Kim Graziani is Vice President of Capacity Building at Community Progress