LandLOC roundtable to address vacant, abandoned properties

Community developers can learn of a new program that helps return vacant and abandoned residential properties to productive use during a roundtable meeting today from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM at Price Hill Will, 3208 Warsaw Avenue.

The Community Development Corporations Association of Cincinnati (CDCAGC) will host two staff members from the Finance Fund in Columbus to talk about LandLOC, a program that provides statewide financing to help non-profit community-based organizations regain control of these underused structures for redevelopment.

LandLOC provides a flexible line of credit to qualifying non-profits to pay for legal and acquisition costs and expenses related to the safety and stabilization of the property.

Projects are also required to be in alignment with or enhance a broader strategy or revitalization plan.

Patricia Garry, executive director of CDCAGC, says that the idea behind the roundtable is to get the word out to community development corporations (CDCs) about the new program, which began in May.

"I sent it to our entire community development list," she says.  "CDCs, banks, housing agencies, city and county officials, funders, for-profit developers, tech service providers like architects and planners.  All of those other folks work with CDCs in various ways to make projects happen, so we thought they should all be invited."

Garry believes that LandLOC will complement other community-based programs that address blight and neglect.

"It will tie in in many ways to the Neighborhood Homes Initiative we've been talking about," she says.  "And it can probably be used with other programs as well, like the City of Cincinnati's RFP coming out in early September."

Writer: Kevin LeMaster
Source: Patricia Garry, executive director, CDCAGC
Logo provided by the Finance Fund