Land banking could lead renters to ownership of now-vacant houses, borough advocates say.
A group of Wilkinsburg residents is now trying to achieve what Pittsburgh has failed to do over the past eight years: operate an effective land bank to deal with abandoned properties.
Made possible by a 2012 state law, land banks are public organizations that can buy tax-delinquent and abandoned properties, clear outstanding tax burdens and sell them to new owners to get them back in good repair and on the tax rolls.
A group of active residents, including China Lee, Kate Luxemburg, Renee Dolney, Vanessa McCarthy-Johnson and Paul O’Hanlon, delivered a proposed ordinance to create the land bank to the borough council in June, after more than a year of preparation. It was posted publicly and the council approved it with little dissent.
“Our goals are to keep housing affordable in Wilkinsburg, create homeownership opportunities and help to avert gentrification and clean up the blight,” said Lee, an attorney and former council member.
While preparations to launch the Wilkinsburg Land Bank move ahead, some in the borough are still trying to understand what it is or how it came to be without extensive public discussion.
The effort to launch a Wilkinsburg-based solution to the borough’s blight problem comes in the middle of a multi-year debate over whether the borough should join the city of Pittsburgh. The people behind the land bank project are staunchly against that idea.
Land bank organizers said it will focus on selling properties to people who are currently renters, particularly Wilkinsburg residents who hold Housing Choice [Section 8] Vouchers.
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