Attorney general announces $20.9 M in grants to 19 land banks

ALBANY — Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced $20.9 million in new grants to 19 land banks that are working to protect homeowners and neighborhoods across the state by acquiring abandoned properties and returning them to productive use.  This new funding brings Attorney General Schneiderman’s total investment in land banks to $57 million since 2013.

The grants were awarded under the Land Bank Community Revitalization Initiative (CRI). The Office of the Attorney General established the initiative in 2013 with funding secured through settlements with the nation’s largest banks over misconduct that contributed to the housing crisis. As of November 2016, when the Office of the Attorney General published “Revitalizing New York State,” a report on the land bank initiative, the New York land banks had:

• Reclaimed more than 1,995 abandoned properties
• Returned over 700 properties to market
• Demolished 409 unstable structures
• Preserved $19 million in property value for surrounding homes

This round of funding, which was made possible by settlements the Attorney General secured last year with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, provides renewal grants to the state’s original ten land banks and start-up grants to nine more newly established land banks, many of which are in rural areas across the state.

“Communities throughout New York are still suffering the fallout from the housing crisis, and my office will continue to support innovative efforts to help them recover,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “With today’s round of grants, all 19 land banks will build on the significant accomplishments already achieved over the past three years, helping put abandoned properties back into use, revitalizing towns and cities, and creating a safer, more stable, and more vibrant environment for New York’s families.”

The Attorney General was joined for the announcement by Saretha Sotomayor. The Sotomayor family are the new owners of a long-vacant home on Clinton Avenue. The home was acquired by the Albany County Land Bank and refurbished in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. The land bank and Habitat are partnering to rehabilitate four additional properties in the area.

The grant program is being managed by two community development intermediary organizations, Enterprise Community Partners and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which oversaw the application process, selected the grantees, and will be providing technical assistance to the land banks as they implement their plans.

The following grants were announced today:

• Albany County Land Bank Corporation $1,040,834
• Broome County Land Bank Corporation $  650,870              
• Buffalo Erie Niagara Land Improvement Corporation $1,230,000
• Capital Region Land Reutilization Corporation $1,700,000
• Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation $1,110,000
• Greater Syracuse Property Development Corporation $2,000,000
• Newburgh Community Land Bank  $2,000,000
• Rochester Land Bank Corporation  $1,500,000
• Suffolk County Landbank Corporation $1,230,000
• Troy Community Land Bank $  701,587
• Allegany County Land Bank $  360,000
• Cattaraugus County Land Bank $  764,625
• Finger Lakes Regional Land Bank $  500,000
• Greater Mohawk Valley Land Bank $1,642,800
• Nassau County Land Bank  $1,210,541
• Oswego County Land Bank $1,000,000
• Sullivan County Land Bank $  920,000
• Chemung County Land Bank $  893,100
• Steuben County Land Bank  $  500,000

The Buffalo Erie Niagara Land Improvement Corporation (BENLIC) will use the new funding to stabilize the most distressed properties in the Land Bank’s 2017-2018 inventory, which are located in low- to moderate-income communities. BENLIC will also complete a modular construction demonstration project in the Lovejoy neighborhood of the City of Buffalo.

The Rochester Land Bank Corporation (RLBC) will use new funds to carry out three programs: 1) Strategic Blight Removal which will facilitate up to 10 demolitions of blighted structures; 2) The Homeownership Assistance Program for Vacant Houses, a new initiative to assist first-time homeowners to purchase vacant homes with subsidies for renovations; 3) To develop a scattered-site affordable rental housing project that will produce at least 20 units of affordable housing.

Land bank programs act as an economic and community development tool to revitalize distressed neighborhoods and business districts. Land banks can benefit urban schools, improve tax revenues, expand housing opportunities, remove public nuisances, assist in crime prevention and promote economic development.

By transferring vacant and abandoned properties to responsible land owners, local governments benefit because they avoid the significant cost burden of property maintenance, such as mowing and snow removal. In addition, local governments benefit from increased revenue because the new owners pay taxes on the properties. In turn, local schools benefit because they receive more funding when there is an increase in the number of property owners in their school districts. Land bank programs can also increase the variety of mixed-income housing offered and provide more opportunities for affordable housing.

Land bank properties that become owner-occupied discourage criminal activity, benefiting public safety and decreasing the cost burden on local police and fire departments. Finally, the more residents and businesses that occupy property in a neighborhood, the more services and amenities will be needed, which boosts local economic activity.