Wells Fargo Foundation, Grounded Solutions Network, Center for Community Progress Launch National Catalytic Land Initiative for Lasting Affordability

Three-Year Project Aims to Transform Vacant Properties, Reduce Displacement in Atlanta, Houston, Portland

     WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Three U.S. cities will receive technical assistance, strategic planning, peer learning and community engagement support to convert deteriorated properties into assets for permanently affordable housing production in emerging neighborhoods. ‘Catalytic Access to & Use of Land for Lasting Affordability,’ is a new national initiative announced today by Grounded Solutions Network and the Center for Community Progress, with significant initial grant support from the Wells Fargo Foundation.

Atlanta, Houston, and Portland (OR) were selected as a three-city cohort, each with the documented potential to achieve community land trust permanently affordable housing at scale, with a specific focus on benefitting their existing populations of color who are at significant risk of involuntary displacement.

Tony Pickett, CEO of Grounded Solutions, noted that, thanks to the generosity of the Wells Fargo Foundation, “Grounded Solutions will lead the innovative 36-month Catalytic Land Cohort effort, defining a real estate pipeline for equitable development with strategic land bank policy and implementation support provided by the Center for Community Progress; the only national nonprofit specifically dedicated to building a future in which vacant, abandoned and deteriorated properties no longer exist.”

“Community Progress has helped hundreds of communities across the country design and implement groundbreaking strategies, policies, and tools—like land banks—to tackle vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties,” said Dr. Akilah Watkins-Butler, President & CEO of Community Progress. “Through this initiative we are excited to collaborate with local partners to open up new pathways to equitable development in the three participating cities and offer valuable lessons around scaling-up solutions to the housing affordability crisis with a focus on equity and inclusion.”

Beyond solely targeting vacant and abandoned property with a traditional land bank organization, an innovative proactive land banking strategy can unlock and generate new avenues for community land trust housing to serve families of color, leveraging the best aspects of land bank and land trust partnership.

With an initial $700K in funding support for the first year of cohort activities provided by the Wells Fargo Foundation, the Catalytic Land Cohort will:

Engage local community stakeholders – and particularly communities of color – to understand and influence the creation of new tools and policies to implement their existing com-munity land use and housing plans

Expand a robust network of relationships among national community development experts, peer communities and experienced practitioners

Leverage portfolios of distressed and underutilized properties in support of existing Community Land Trust housing programs that provide lasting affordability

“Housing affordability is a major issue affecting communities across the U.S., as far too many families struggle to keep a roof over their heads,” said Connie Wright, senior vice president, Wells Fargo Foundation housing philanthropy. “This collaboration builds on Wells Fargo’s evolution of our philanthropy strategy, which includes a $1 billion commitment for housing affordability philanthropy over the next six years to create scalable solutions to reduce the cost burden of housing.”

Catalytic Land Cohort representatives and stakeholders are scheduled to convene for the first time to launch the initiative in October during the 2019 Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference in Atlanta.