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Vacant properties are so persistent in part because it’s too expensive to do anything with them. At least that’s the assumption. It’s much simpler, goes this reasoning, and more cost-effective, to construct and manage a new multifamily building than to try to rehab and manage single-family homes spread over a wide area. But what if that’s just not true?

The number of land banks grew dramatically in the wake of the foreclosure crisis. So has our understanding of how to successfully fund them.

This is no longer my neighborhood.” Too often, communities of color that experience new investments report that the changes are a detriment to their lives, and a benefit to newcomers, […]

Land banks and community land trusts (CLTs) are often perceived as one and the same. That doesn’t reflect reality.

The community land trust model is in a time of dramatic growth and creativity. Some CLTs are aiming for larger scale than has been typical. How are they doing it?

[Editor’s Note: Last Wednesday, Pennsylvania’s governor signed land bank enabling legislation, opening the way for the state’s communities to create land banks to take a more strategic approach to dealing […]

Community gardens and urban agriculture are crucial gathering places—and revitalizing forces—in neighborhoods with lots of vacancy and low values. But what happens to them when the market turns around?

Even the most sophisticated private and nonprofit partnerships for dealing with vacant property will end up with some properties that don’t pencil out. Land banks can step in to keep those properties from dragging down revitalization efforts.

A SCOTUS ruling that protects a homeowner’s equity may end up benefiting speculators and hurting land banks.

Though the idea of social housing is gaining traction among advocates and policy experts, the path of least resistance for its production in the U.S. is also the path of the perpetuation of residential racial segregation.

Lessons from Philadelphia’s Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land

Philadelphia is about to become the largest city in the country with a land bank. A land bank is a nonprofit or government agency whose sole function is to efficiently […]