Last month, Greater Ohio Policy Center released a report documenting the economic impacts that the City of Columbus and Franklin County land banks had on the local economy. These economic impacts include:

• $90 million in protected home values from demolition of nearby blighted structures
• $7.8 million in direct land sales
• $442,000 in property taxes collected from former land bank properties in 2017 alone
• $80 million in new private and non-profit investment on vacant lots or blighted, abandoned structures
• $3.3 million in grants and loans awarded to local non-profit partners

The collaboration between the City of Columbus and COCIC has served to jump-start real estate activity in some of Central Ohio’s most disinvested housing markets and after more than 1,600 demolitions in the past five years, the land banks have successfully dealt with the worst of the worst properties. Today, the land banks are strategically pivoting to address properties farther up the blight pipeline through rehabilitation and blight prevention.

Below is a wrap-up of the media coverage this report has generated:

Land Banks in Central Ohio Restore Nearly 1,300 Properties in 5 Years
Non Profit Quarterly 4/3/2018  Reporter Steve Dubb

Group says land banks are boosting local economy
Columbus Dispatch - 4/2/2018  Reporter Mark Ferenchik

Columbus-Franklin County land banks report $180M in economic impact
Columbus Business First - 3/20/2018 Reporter Carrie Ghose