This year has been a busy one for the Ingham County Land Bank. Using part of $5.9 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding the City of Lansing received as part of the economic stimulus package, the Land Bank just started construction on two foreclosed homes on the Southside.
“The Land Bank and the land bank statute is really a tool to be used by the community — and all members of the community — to accomplish an end,” says Eric Schertzing, Ingham County Treasurer & Land Bank chair, referring to the collective interest in rehabbing or removing foreclosed properties to improve neighborhood value.
The two new constructions are located on Risdale Street near Wainwright Elementary School. The Land Bank has roughly 300 parcels within the city, and about half of them include structures. Schertzing says the Land Bank picks up about 100 new properties every year.
The Ingham County Land Bank recently purchased 18 houses from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Land Bank will renovate the majority of the newly acquired proprieties.
“Those are really throughout the city,” he says. “If you look at where we own things, it’s pretty diverse.”
Source: Eric Schertzing, Ingham County Land Bank
Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.
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