I don’t know how many times I must say this, but we are facing a $1M deficit in 2011 and even more in 2012/13, and then our trust fund from revenue sharing runs out and we will never get that money back from the state.

It is my job as a Commisisoner to take the long view and vote reponsibly. I adhere to the couty’s Guiding Principle No. 1, “Maintain long term fiscal stability”.

And no matter what you say, there are 1000 abandoned house in Flint which are owned by the county land bank, and because they ar owned publicly, they are NOT PAYING ANY TAXES.

“It sure gives you some perspective, the sheer numbers [of vacant/dilapidated houses]”

Having done some planning work with a hard-hit Flint neighborhood association, I can appreciate the Herculean task that the Genesee County Land Bank faces. And when we call something “Herculean”, we often forget just what the original Labours of Hercules were. In this case, I think the most relevant is mucking out the stables of Augeas.

Like Hercules, the Genesee County Land Bank is charged with (metaphorically) shoveling several decades worth of built-up manure in a short period of time. And, like Hercules, they’ve done an incredible job of bringing new and creative resources to bear on what seems like an impossible task, and have done an amazing amount of good.

The unhappy people in the news segment are focusing on what the Land Bank has in progress, vs. what they’ve accomplished, ignoring the fact that, without the Land Bank, none of that would even be in progress. The line about the Land Bank being a “slumlord” is a red herring – it distracts from the real story of how important Genesee County’s Land Bank has been in addressing Flint’s abandoned property problems.

Washtenaw County is certainly not in the same condition as Genesee County – even now, we face 100 or so tax foreclosures a year, rather than thousands – and our future Land Bank will not face nearly the same level of challenge as Genesee’s. But that doesn’t mean we should leave those tools behind when we go out to deal with abandoned and tax foreclosed properties – the Land Bank would reinforce and complement, not compete with, the Urban County’s (very good) work.

A Land Bank comes with unique financing & funding mechanisms that can’t be applied in normal tax auctions, provides new owners with a clean title to the property (rather than the Quit Claim provided through tax auction, which limits a buyer’s ability to get rehab/redevelopment financing), and allows the County to dispose of tax foreclosed properties in a conscious, deliberate, and responsible fashion that benefits the surrounding community, rather than (as noted in the Flint video) simply selling tax foreclosures at online auction to speculators.

One tax foreclosed Ypsilanti property from last year’s auction was purchased by “Seized Properties, LLC”, out of California, and that’s far from the only blatant speculator purchase we’ve seen. If we had a Land Bank in place at that time, we would have been able to more deliberately process and sell those properties, to local organizations like the ones you mention, giving them a better chance of contributing positively to the neighborhood.

I don’t think we should rule out a Land Bank for lack of current funds. As you mention, we had $300,000 from NSP to get one up and running. Currently, there’s a potential for “NSP 3″ working its way through the Federal legislature, which I’m sure the County will be applying for, should it come to pass. We should set up the legal framework for the Land Bank even if we don’t have the funds to use it quite yet, to ensure we have it in our toolkit when we need it, or when funding is identified.

The Urban County is a group of townships and the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti who have joined together in order to be eligible for HUD funds – HOME and CDGB. It has nothing to do with a land bank. It has been in existence since 2000, and has been buying homes for low to moderate income people who qualify, rehabbing them and selling them to qualified buyers (the non-profits mentioned act as developers). It also allocates money from CDBG funds for public projects and human services. Allocations are based on census tracts of low to moderate income populations. It is completely funded by federal money. At the time the land bank was first proposed, the Urban County allocated $300,000 from a special program called the Neighbohood Stabilization Program – which was actually created during the Bush Adminstration – to buy up foreclosed homes. This was separate from the regular HUD allocation. We then applied for more money under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program II. We did not receive the second round funding. Because there was not a functioning land bank board, the UC voted to reallocate the $300,000 to its program of buying foreclosed homes, because with HUD funds, you have to spend them within a certain period of time, or you lose them.

I know this sounds very complicated, but I suggest that you go to the address I gave (or google Genesee County Land Bank) and watch the program.

There simply is no general fund money at this time to start a new bureaucracy, with no guarentee of success. And, there are no federal funds available, either.

Did the fact that the land bank didn’t have a board affect efforts to get federal funds?

If you are interested, there is a video about the much vaunted Genesee County Land Bank. Just Google that or go to: [link]
It is a most eye opening tale about their land bank, which owns 1000 abandoned houses in Flint. One participant referes to the land bank as a “slumlord”. I DO NOT want to see that happen here.

I will not be supporting the land bank.