Governor Cuomo signed the Land Bank Act into law in 2011,
empowering local communities to use land banks to proactively address blighted
and abandoned properties that affect their residents. This bill was sponsored by Assemblyman Bill
Magnarelli and Senator David Valesky.
There are now 23 land banks throughout New York. Land Banks are a proven
solution for strengthening communities, revitalizing neighborhoods, supporting
local economic development, creating more affordable housing, and protecting
the environment.
Locally, The Allegany County Land Bank is poised to acquire
8-10 tax foreclosed properties and take actions that will result in affordable
housing opportunities for qualified residents of Allegany County. The Allegany
County Land Bank has received nearly $500k in start-up funding from the NY
Office of Attorney General, funds that will not fully support operations beyond
2018.
Statewide,
land banks have leveraged over $75 million in private investment, renovated
over 400 structures, sold over 650 properties, and demolished over 480 blighted
structures. However, NY land banks have no committed state funding beyond the
end of 2018. The scale of the problems they seek to address – vacant and
abandoned properties – is immense and has been decades in the making. Lack of
recurring, predictable funding forces land banks to limit the number of problem
properties they can address, incentivizes short-term planning and projects over
longer-term (and more impactful) strategic planning (including “land banking”),
curtailing the potential of land banks intended under state law. Land banks effectiveness and ability to make
mid- to long-range plans to bank land due is significantly impacted by
unreliable funding. In Ohio, land banks
have secured recurring, predictable public funding and are recognized
nationwide as the most effective at achieving their mission – eliminating
blight and returning abandoned properties to productive use. Land banks across NY agree that they cannot
address the scale of the abandoned property problem in our state without
similar public financial support.
With a comparable funding model, New York State could reverse
decades of decline, restore communities, and become the national model for
combating blight and improving neighborhoods from Buffalo to Long Island. Financial support for land banks is
consistent with Governor Cuomo’s focus on revitalization of Upstate NY’s urban
cores and complements other innovative state programs such as the Restore New
York Communities Initiative, the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, and the
Upstate Revitalization Initiative. While
these programs provide ‘last-in’ funds for gap financing, land banks are
typically the first-in, proactively intervening with abandoned properties to
buy time needed to develop a plan for their redevelopment – plans that later
leverage other state programs.
New York State has the opportunity to become a national
leader in one of the most effective approaches to combating blight. Abandoned and blighted properties prevent new
home buyers and businesses from moving into and investing in older
neighborhoods, depress property values, prevent existing homeowners from
growing wealth through home equity, limit the ability of investors to finance
new businesses or improvements in these areas, and limit the ability of local
governments to generate vital property taxes.
The cost of doing nothing is too high a price for NY residents to pay.
