Today, property owners – homeowners, landlords and businesses – feeling the active COVID-19 impacts are also bracing for a possible larger real estate market downturn and more unknowns. These influences, especially when combined with job loss or other challenges, leave many owners finding it difficult to invest in necessary maintenance and repairs. Earlier this Spring,…
There is no question. Michigan communities are encountering and will continue to feel the impacts of the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis. As unemployment skyrockets, state and local revenue sources diminish, and public health costs soar, immediate action must be taken to preserve homes and businesses now and into the future. To help, the…
Code enforcement is an important tool for addressing blighted property conditions and stabilizing neighborhoods. When we talk about that, however, we often focus on vacant, blighted property, and less so on occupied, blighted property. Many City and land bank-led initiatives have programs to demolish and rehab vacant, abandoned properties, and encourage new residents to…
“House prices have sufficiently recovered and foreclosure activities have sufficiently abated.” That was the faulty argument made this past July to support a U.S. Senate proposal that would have rescinded federal Hardest Hit Funds – a critical source of funding for neighborhood stabilization efforts in communities hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis – in order…
A national problem calls for federal action Sustained economic decline and the foreclosure crisis have resulted in a wave of vacancy, abandonment and blight in cities and towns across the country. Since 2000, the number of long-term or abandoned housing units has risen nearly 60 percent. The scale of the problem has grown too large…
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to travel to New York City and Yonkers, New York for the Groundwork USA Conference. The meeting kicked off with a whirlwind introduction to the work being performed all across the country by the organization – a national network of Groundwork Trusts helping drive community-based revitalization of…
With the 7th Annual Land Bank Conference just a few short days away, we are looking forward to the many breakout sessions, mobile workshops and training workshops that will be offered. We asked five of our staff members to answer the question: What session are you most looking forward to at the conference? Read below…
