The lender has the flexibility to consider factors other than credit scores to determine a borrower's risk, such as timeliness of rent payments, said Adam Zaranko, executive director of Albany County Land Bank. "It could be a game changer," he said.
Read more here.
SCHENECTADY — The Capital Region Land Bank’s board of directors and The Schenectady Foundation have agreed to build a splash pad at Wallingford Park.
The splash pad will be built in the city’s Mont Pleasant neighborhood as part of the Thriving Neighborhoods Challenge program that seeks to engage residents and neighborhood groups to revitalize neighborhoods and awards grants to unique proposals.
Read more here.
Conservation of 880 Troy-Schenectady Road
Last year, the Town Supervisor began discussions with the Albany County Land Bank to acquire and conserve 10.6 acres along the Schuyler Creek, which flows north and south through the site. This site was the subject of a foreclosure by the County, who then transferred the property to the Land Bank which had listed it for sale. After the Town received some initial calls from potential buyers, it was immediately determined that the development of this property would compromise a “natural buffer” to the Garling Heights neighborhood. In March, the Town Board approved of the acquisition from the Land Bank for $1. The Town is in the process of closing on the property and by doing so, it will be protected from future development.
Read more here.
An effort is underway to save what has been labeled a “severely distressed” historic village home.
The former home of Judge J.K. Richardson at 101 Virginia St. has fallen into such disrepair that it is uninhabitable.
The Finger Lakes Regional Land Bank Corporation, an agency of Seneca County, acquired the property in 2018 from Richard Kenney. The land bank paid to remove more than 7.5 tons of garbage and debris from the property, demolished and removed a collapsed garage and removed trees and grapevines that had overtaken the home, all in an effort to make the property more marketable.
Read more here.
The city's fits and starts of renewal struggled to take hold until about 10 years ago, when a few things happened in close conjunction to one another. The Newburgh Community Land Bank formed and started getting abandoned properties fixed up and back on the tax rolls. The Newburgh chapter of Habitat For Humanity, which was formed by three long-time Newburgh residents sitting around a kitchen table in 1999, evolved into a robust nonprofit that's since completed over 100 projects in the city.
Read more here.
ALBION — A new agreement between state agencies and municipalities in Orleans and Niagara counties will promote the redevelopment of dozens of potentially contaminated properties in the two counties.
The agreement is designed to remove contaminated properties from tax foreclosure lists and put them back into productive use, while addressing any potential contamination.
The cooperative agreement is between the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the state Comptroller’s Office, Niagara County, Orleans County, the cities of Lockport, Niagara Falls and North Tonawanda, and the Niagara Orleans Regional Land Improvement Corp.
Read more here.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation announced Tuesday that it has completed an agreement allowing Niagara and Orleans counties to foreclose on contaminated brownfields without making the local governments pay for cleanups.
The communities, the counties and the Niagara-Orleans Regional Land Improvement Corp., a land bank, may market any of 81 properties listed in the agreement. The purchaser must join a DEC brownfield program and pay for remediation. Purchase prices will be shared with the DEC.
Read more here.
SYRACUSE, NY — The fabled 'Oz House' on Onondaga Street in Syracuse has sold for $10,000.
It's nicknamed the 'Oz House' because it was rumored that 'Wizard of Oz' author L. Frank Baum met his wife Maud Gage at the home. That was later debunked (the home where he met Gage has been demolished).
The 5,198 sq. ft. home is on Onondaga St. W. and was built in the mid-1800s.
In 2015, Greater Syracuse Land Bank sold the home to the "All Things Oz Historical Foundation."
Read more here.
According to city officials, the Housing First Trust Fund would be a “dedicated revenue source to fund efforts to improve residents’ access to stable, affordable and quality housing,” with a number of potential goals of:
Provide funding to the Rochester Land Bank to acquire higher-quality properties for owner occupancy programs
Work with the renters of two-family homes to help them acquire the property, become owners and accelerate their financial growth to stabilize city neighborhoods
Allow the Land Bank to offer properties directly to residents seeking to buy a home without them having to competitively bid against investors
Provide new owner-occupants with $24,999 rehabilitation grants, as well as financial literacy and financial planning assistance to ensure long-term stability and wealth building
Strengthen neighborhoods by offering any city-owned tax lien acquisitions via lottery for one dollar to residents on the same street. This would allow homeowners to build wealth and strengthen stability of city neighborhoods. Owners of these properties would be eligible for rehabilitation grants and other services to ensure the creation of safe and affordable rental properties
Expand emergency-based debt and rent relief to qualifying residents. This will help prevent evictions and foreclosures and stop temporary financial crises from becoming negatively life-altering events
Reduce owner and tenant utility costs by making energy efficiency improvements in newly constructed or renovated housing for low-income residents
Fund supportive services within housing court to help families overcome problems related to eviction
Read more here.
The Chautauqua County Land Bank Corp. is in the process of finalizing details to establish a loan fund to assist individuals and families improve the communities in which they live.
The land bank’s rehab program works to stabilize neighborhoods by targeting blight and/or declining properties that are negatively impacting neighborhood property values. By acquiring these properties, land bank officials can clean them up, secure them and offer them at below market value to interested purchasers who will commit to renovating the property to specified levels. The reinvestment rehabilitates the property and helps to reverse the trend of declining property values in the neighborhood.
Read more here.
AMSTERDAM — On Tuesday, the Capital Region Land Bank is set to begin a $205,000 project to tear down six houses in the city.
The city of Amsterdam has received four rounds, close to $2 million worth of building demolition and rehabilitation from its membership in the Capital Region Landbank.
Read more via recordernews.com
FULTON — Four Fulton properties overhauled by the Oswego County Land Bank in recent months are coming to completion as part of the organization’s continued effort to rehabilitate blighted properties across the county.
The Oswego County Land Bank, which was formed in 2016 as a nonprofit corporation governed by an 11-member board, is aimed at improving neighborhoods and the county housing stock by renovating or demolishing strategically targeted properties. Fulton and the county Land Bank have partnered on several property swaps and rehabs in the past few years, and the relationship is delivering a quartet of newly renovated homes to the local housing market.
Read more via oswegonewsnow.com
A group of Alfred State College students in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) program recently gained some valuable hands-on, real-world experience while making a difference in the local community.
Under the guidance of Instructor Scott Hillman, 16 HVAC students installed an entire plumbing system at a newly built house on Clark Street in Wellsville. Students who participated in this effort include Tori Cornwell, of Buffalo; Jared Dallas, of Franklinville; Tom Dycha, of Hamburg; Bill Fon, of Dobbs Ferry; Brandon Goodling, of Rixford, PA; Matthew Holmes, of Pike; Allix John, of Buffalo; Jesse Kabat, of Seneca Falls; Patrick Mootry, of Buffalo; Elizabeth Parker, of East Aurora; Paul Risasi, of Buffalo; Quinn Scoma, of Rochester; Noah Scott, of East Aurora; Trevor Vacinek, of Freedom; Adam Venton, of Fulton; and Dakota Yehl, of Hinsdale.
According to Hillman, the project came about after Jason Isaman of the Allegany County Land Bank Corporation (ACLBC) met with the Building Trades Department to determine whether students could assist in some way with the construction of a new house. Hillman said he is very proud of the students and the work they have achieved.
“They were able to take the lessons and the theories learned in the classroom and apply them directly into installing the plumbing system for this new house,” Hillman said. “This type of ‘live work’ is vital to meeting our student learning objectives; the students are able to physically use the skills they’ve learned. This particular project is special because we were able to give back and improve the local community as well, so it’s a win-win for all.”
Article via the Wellsville Regional News.
TOWN OF UNION (WBNG) -- The Broome County Land Bank started a series of four demolition projects Tuesday morning.
The land bank acquired 7 East Maine Rd. in the town of Union from a Broome County Tax Foreclosure in early 2020
The property consists of several mobile homes that have sat vacant for years leading to significant structural damage. Each one has been condemned as unsafe.
Broome County Land Bank targets distressed, vacant, abandoned and foreclosed properties with the goal of creating economic development.
"One of our main priorities is to return these properties we acquire return them to the tax roll as soon as possible. So that is what we are trying to do with many of our properties," said Jessica Haas, the executive director of the Land Bank.
Properties in the town of Union and Binghamton will be demolished. The total cost of the demolitions is $51,000.
Check out the full new report via News 12 WBNG.com HERE
"At the land bank, we're beyond excited to transform these distressed properties into affordable homes that both the occupants and their neighbors can feel proud of," Daniel Kanter, Chairman of the land bank board, said in a statement.
To read the full article via the Daily Freeman CLICK HERE
The Center for Community Progress is seeking to fill the position of Director of the National Land Bank Network (NLBN). The field of land banking is at a crucial moment. Of the almost 200 land banks in operation across the country today, many face shared challenges despite a great deal of variability in geography, market conditions, organizational capacity, local policies, and state enabling legislation. No national platform exists to regularly connect, convene, support, and uplift this extensive network of land banks and community development practitioners. The Community Progress team is launching a new National Land Bank Network (NLBN) to communicate and draw attention to the achievements and trends of land banks, develop innovative programs and policy reforms, provide topical, customized training for practitioners, connect a highly knowledgeable field of professional practitioners, and expand the field of practice.
The Director will serve as the engineer of a new, formalized, national platform for NLBN members to connect and share knowledge, develop innovative programs and policy reforms, and learn new skills through advanced technical assistance. This person will drive the strategy and tactical leadership needed to successfully connect and collaborate with a broad base of stakeholders and work to systematically address common challenges facing land banks.
Center for Community Progress works to foster strong, equitable communities where vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties are transformed into assets for neighbors and neighborhoods. A national leader in land policy and land banking, Community Progress works to assess and reform policies and practices to ensure the effective, equitable reuse of vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties across the nation. To learn more or to apply or to apply, please visit the Center for Community Progress website.
It's been 12 years since the 2008 financial crisis devastated neighborhoods across the state, and many communities are still reeling from the effects. One is hard pressed to find a community in New York that doesn't have zombie properties. Upstate, cities like Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany still struggle to recover from the one-two punch of population migration from urban centers to the suburbs and decades of systematic disinvestment caused by the discriminatory practice of redlining. The consequences have been devastating. Disparity between white and black home-ownership rates in the cities of Albany and Buffalo is among the widest in the nation. A recent study found that the life expectancy of a child born in Arbor Hill — in the shadow of the state Capitol — is seven years less than that of a child born in an adjacent affluent neighborhood.
Our rural communities continue to grapple with economic recovery and a lack of quality affordable housing. Rural blight remains rampant throughout the state. One must simply take a drive through the Southern Tier or Mohawk Valley to see the legacy of failed federal policies and the widespread financial misconduct of 2008 etched into the idyllic landscapes.
Across New York, communities have taken the fight against blight into their own hands. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed New York's groundbreaking land bank legislation in 2011, enabling local governments to form the powerful nonprofit organizations. Today there are 25 land banks from Buffalo to Long Island, and 10 more are expected to be formed throughout the state. Funding provided by the attorney general's office, combined with local support, has enabled New York to quickly establish one of the most active and sophisticated networks of land banks in the United States.
Communities with land banks are showing incredible and measurable signs of progress, demolishing hundreds of blighted structures, achieving unprecedented levels of local ownership, reducing absentee landlordism and speculation, increasing the supply of quality affordable housing and returning private investment into neighborhoods where most financial institutions still fail to lend.
The number of vacant residential properties in Syracuse has declined by more than 20 percent over the past five years, and there are plans to create 50 affordable homes on vacant properties reclaimed by the Greater Syracuse Land Bank. Some neighborhoods in Albany are experiencing the first new construction in years, and the Albany County Land Bank is partnering with the city of Albany to redevelop more than 80 properties in distressed neighborhoods. The Greater Mohawk Valley Land Bank is transforming a tax-delinquent mobile home park in Herkimer into high-efficiency housing that will serve as a model for similar communities throughout the country. The list goes on and on.
However, the grant funding that has enabled so many land banks help communities change their trajectories is largely depleted, and funding has not been committed beyond the end of this calendar year. Without sufficient financial support from New York state, the number of blighted problem properties that New York's land banks can reclaim and the potential to transform more communities will be limited.
Land banks exist because historic policies, predatory practices and traditional approaches to reclaiming vacant properties have failed many of our communities. We have an opportunity to continue to invest in a proven solution that helps create the safe and affordable neighborhoods that all New Yorkers deserve. New York cannot afford to let its land banks remain unfunded.
Adam Zaranko is the President of the New York Land Bank Association and Executive Director of the Albany County Land Bank Corporation.
Commentary via Times Union, March 18, 2020 read published Commentary HERE
The Albany County Land Bank has now sold more than 500 properties, the nonprofit corporation announced this week. The land bank estimates the sales have spurred more than $20 million in private investment.
The Albany County Land Bank is one of 25 similar organizations around the state that were created following the Great Recession to shepherd vacant or foreclosed properties back to productive use. The organization has been funded by the state attorney general’s office, the county and other partners. It’s the second-largest land bank in the state.
Read the full article from the Albany Business Review HERE
The Albany County Land Bank announced Thursday that it has surpassed 500 property sales since its formation in 2014 and become the second-largest of the state’s 25 land banks.
Through the end of 2019, it had acquired 355 vacant buildings and 745 vacant parcels that were abandoned or had been seized in tax foreclosures. Also, it stabilized 74 buildings and demolished 75, and improved 118 vacant lots.
These properties have been in every municipality in the county, and have ranged from single- and multi-family residential buildings to small urban lots to rural properties exceeding 60 acres.
Read the full article from the Daily Gazette HERE