Business Journal Growth Report Commentary: County Land Bank Needs More Resources

By: DEBORA FLORA executive director of Mahoning County Land Bank

In February 2009, the National Vacant Properties Campaign released a policy assessment report to help Youngstown and Mahoning County recover from what authors called a “growing cancer of blight and abandonment.” Among the authors’ recommendations was a new initiative: Create a county land bank to manage vacant and abandoned properties and convert problems into opportunities.

Ten years later, and eight years after the creation of Mahoning County Land Bank as a community improvement corporation, the local prognosis continues to improve.

Before the NVPC report was published, one in every five houses in Youngstown was statistically empty, which meant the city had one of the nation’s largest per capita inventories of vacant and abandoned properties. That unhealthy, undesirable distinction was rooted in job and population losses, tax delinquency and subprime lending. It also was costly, because abandoned properties don’t generate revenue – they consume tax dollars every time a broken window is boarded, grass is cut, or suspicious activity prompts a call to a police or fire department.

Youngstown had an acute case of vacancy, but the maladies of property abandonment had spread from Beloit to Boardman, and from Sebring to Struthers.

The early work of Mahoning County Land Bank has been focused on removing badly-blighted, unused properties from neighborhoods. Since 2012, it has administered more than $16 million in demolition funding from state-level agencies. These external funds, which were expressly offered to county land banks, were a lifeline to communities that had insufficient — if any — local funding for necessary demolitions.

Campbell Fire Chief Nick Hrelec reports that arson calls at vacant properties have declined in recent years because of the city’s own code enforcement activities and partnership with the County Land Bank. Maureen O’Neil, the city’s property specialist, says abandoned property removal also has reduced reports of vandalism and rodent infestation.

Demolition awards also have enabled the County Land Bank to put local people to work. In 2018 alone, MCLB added $5.17 million of activity into the local economy, largely by acquiring and tearing down abandoned housing, then landscaping those lots. It completed 434 such projects in 11 communities last year.

The County Land Bank recognizes that demolition alone is not the cure. It has played a role in the renovation of 72 houses in partnership with Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation through its Do-it-Yourself program, which assists homeowners in absorbing vacant lots into their yards. It acquires and assembles land for business startup and expansions and also replaces liabilities with assets by converting vacant places in strategic locations to green spaces.

Last fall, at Erie Street and East Judson Avenue in Youngstown, an obsolete 6-unit residence was torn down and an attractive flexible-use gathering space was installed. Children rode their bicycles across a new cement walkway while landscapers planted perennial flowers and evergreen trees. Three weeks after the job was finished, the site was used as a safe trick-or-treating stop. Hundreds of children walked through the flex park on Halloween night. Social media drove some visitors there, but awareness and appreciation of the new neighborhood amenity was the main draw.

The creation of Mahoning County Land Bank was neither coincidental nor convenient. Motivated residents pressed state senators and representatives to approve enabling legislation in 2010, so that the pilot land bank in Cuyahoga County could be replicated. New collaborations between public, private and nonprofit entities became necessary. Trust had to be established between partners, some past practices were set aside, and channels of communication were opened with funders

Mahoning County is in long-term recovery from property vacancy and abandonment. The pool of distressed housing is shrinking, but the neighbors of remaining empty, blighted houses still seek relief. Resources also will be needed to remove or repurpose vacant commercial properties to enhance neighborhood revitalization and business development.

Follow the County Land Bank’s activities at www.mahoninglandbank.com or on Facebook and Twitter.