Put Empty Buildings and Lots Back to Work
Empty schools, motels, and lots drain value from neighborhoods, but they can become anchors of stability when communities reclaim and repurpose them. Across the country, residents are turning unused land and vacant buildings into housing, gardens, solar sites, and small-business hubs. When projects are locally owned and locally led, the benefits stay with the people who live there.
To Get Started:
Find the properties: Walk through the neighborhood to create a list of vacant buildings and lots. Use public data from planning, code enforcement, and assessor websites. Reach out to the land bank or housing department for inventories of surplus properties.
Form a working group: Invite a city representative, local residents, a developer, and other relevant stakeholders to join your group. Choose one project to focus on initially and designate a lead organization to ensure progress.
Secure site control: Apply for a deed or a long-term lease through the land bank or city real estate office. If the property is privately owned, negotiate an option agreement with the owner that allows to conduct due diligence without losing the opportunity.
Design for local benefit: Choose a project that will benefit the community, such as community-owned housing, a cooperative market, a solar array that provides bill credits, or a shared yard for home-based vendors. Establish goals for local hiring and ownership shares.
Line up permits and funding: Meet early on with planning and building officials to outline necessary approvals. Explore various funding sources, including public grants, philanthropic contributions, CDFI loans, historic or housing tax credits, and community fundraising.
Launch and report: Start with one property and monitor the outcomes, such as the number of housing units created, jobs generated, and community revenue. Share your results and invite new partners to help expand to additional sites.
Best Practices / Innovative Programs:
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Center for Community Progress: National Technical Assistance is a national nonprofit focused on tackling vacancy and abandonment. Provides policy guidance, land bank support, and convenes the Reclaiming Vacant Properties conference.
Detroit Future City: Neighborhood Land Transformation works with block clubs and neighborhood groups to convert vacant lots into pocket parks, stormwater features, and small-business spaces managed by residents.
Grounded Strategies: Vacant Land Activation supports residents in Pittsburgh in transforming empty lots into gardens, play spaces, and micro-enterprise sites through training, tools, and stewardship plans.
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California Department of Housing and Community Development: Project Homekey funds local governments to convert vacant motels, hotels, and other buildings into permanent or interim housing for the homeless or near homeless. Thousands of units have been created statewide since launch.
Cuyahoga Land Bank: Property Reuse acquires tax-foreclosed and abandoned properties in Ohio, clears title, and transfers them for rehab, infill housing, and community use.
New Orleans Redevelopment Authority: Community Partnerships leases and sells city-owned vacant land for community gardens, green infrastructure, and affordable housing with neighborhood-level stewardship.
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WinnDevelopment is a private developer with a long track record of converting mills, schools, and factories into mixed-income homes. Their portfolio shows how historic properties can become modern housing.
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Green The Church: Creation Care and Land Justice helps congregations turn underused church land and buildings into climate and community assets such as gardens, solar projects, and, where feasible, affordable housing.
