There are hundreds of vacant, blighted properties in South Bend and St. Joseph County that get stuck for years in the county’s delinquent tax system. The city and county are working to more quickly get those properties back on the tax rolls and creating affordable housing.
Land banks essentially are a way for nonprofits and local governments to acquire vacant and blighted properties, making it easier for someone to build new housing or renovate what’s already there.
On Tuesday a county council committee gave the full council a favorable recommendation to start a land bank program. Its sponsor, County Council Member Bryan Tanner, says there are over 300 properties in the county that have gone through multiple property tax delinquency sales, yet they remain idled.
”The land bank enables a more efficient bundling of those delinquent, vacant, abandoned and blighted properties," Tanner says. "It truncates that process to enable others to turn it back into productive use.”
The city, county and the Michiana Area Council of Governments would form a new nonprofit to run the program. MACOG would pay for that with a Lilly Endowment grant, and the city would pay $500,000 up front, then $300,000 a year for four years.
The Community Foundation of St. Joseph County also will use the Lilly money to create low-interest loans to help make the homes more affordable.
