Oct 20, 2026 · 24 min · 16 segments
Send us Fan Mail What if vacant and abandoned properties could become opportunities for new housing and neighborhood revitalization? In Episode 14…
Odette RamosGuestDominic ButchkoHostTerry HickeyHostBut when it comes right down to it, I think there's sort of competing models or competing philosophies.
Why not just authorize an existing county or city agency to do what you described earlier? Why create? Why go through the trouble of creating a quasi? What do you think the difference is between the two? Do you think one works better than another? Does it depend? Kind of walk us through that.
a quasi-governmental entity land bank for flexibility, for maximum flexibility.
And because a lot of land banks, the way that they can function is that they can attract investment better than a jurisdiction could, right? Sometimes jurisdictions don't even have that power.
So it's really to be able to, again, it's still connected with county government or city government.
It's just that they either don't have that capacity and need to form that capacity some way.
But it's also that flexibility of hiring, right? Not having to go through the other hiring process.
Sometimes they need to add functionality depending on what the needs are in the community.
And then also to be able to attract that capital to be able to make projects work.
Funding does have something to do with it to see if there's a capacity to make sure that the land bank has what it needs to be able to do its work as well as the county.
So again, when you go across the nation, there's different reasons why they decided to do it.
When we started this work at the land bank several years ago, there were only 200, you know, across the nation.
But when it comes right down to it, I think there's sort of competing models or competing philosophies.
Why not just authorize an existing county or city agency to do what you described earlier? Why create? Why go through the trouble of creating a quasi? What do you think the difference is between the two? Do you think one works better than another? Does it depend? Kind of walk us through that.
a quasi-governmental entity land bank for flexibility, for maximum flexibility.
And because a lot of land banks, the way that they can function is that they can attract investment better than a jurisdiction could, right? Sometimes jurisdictions don't even have that power.
So it's really to be able to, again, it's still connected with county government or city government.
It's just that they either don't have that capacity and need to form that capacity some way.
But it's also that flexibility of hiring, right? Not having to go through the other hiring process.
Sometimes they need to add functionality depending on what the needs are in the community.
And then also to be able to attract that capital to be able to make projects work.
Funding does have something to do with it to see if there's a capacity to make sure that the land bank has what it needs to be able to do its work as well as the county.
So again, when you go across the nation, there's different reasons why they decided to do it.
When we started this work at the land bank several years ago, there were only 200, you know, across the nation.
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