PA Blight Library

PA Blight Library

Hundreds of thousands of blighted or abandoned buildings are spread across Pennsylvania, impeding community and economic development programs and conveying images of old, worn out communities.

At the Housing Alliance, we see these properties in our communities not as the eyesores they are today, but as untapped assets that provide land for redevelopment. Abandoned land, when transformed into productive re-use, is a critical opportunity for our older communities to modernize, revitalize, and grow, and to improve the quality of life for neighbors who are already there.

The PA Blight Library is a collection of resources for tackling blight and land banks. It also includes the digital version of “Blight to Bright”, a manual of effective tools available to return vacant properties to productive use.

Understanding Blight

“As we have all learned, blight is bad for business and bad for quality of life. Many abandoned eyesores can become side yards or small parks. Others can be redeveloped as homes or businesses. But regardless of how properties will be reused, it is imperative that we eliminate the blight that vacant, untended properties impose on our communities and that we replace them with usable and useful properties that add value to our neighborhoods. It is a big job; it took global economic shifts, the creation of the modern suburb, and the failure of whole industries to get us where we are today. But we can change the culture of blight by aggressively, consistently, and proactively using all the tools available under Pennsylvania law to reactivate such properties and remove their blighting influences.”
From Blight to Bright

Impact of Blight and Vacant Property Studies

There are several studies on blight in Pennsylvania and nationally that help us understand the scale of the challenge we are facing and the opportunities for redevelopment. The Revitalizing PA report was created by soliciting feedback from communities of all sizes around the commonwealth. Through surveys, interviews, and in-person meetings, we gathered information about existing projects, policies, and practices to uncover successes as well as gaps and challenges that need to be addressed.

The Tri-COG Communities, comprised of the Steel Valley Council of Governments, the Turtle Creek Valley Council of Governments, and the Twin Rivers Council of Governments commissioned a study quantifying the financial impact of blight in their communities. The study was used to, “develop consensus among various stakeholders regarding the magnitude of the impact of blight and to develop meaningful ways to address the issue of vacant and blighted properties.”

Combatting Blight

For many years, the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania has been committed to supporting community efforts to turn around blighted properties. The result of our work is a range of new powers and tools, made possible through state legislation, that provide local leaders with the ability to implement solutions to the problem. Our collective successes demonstrate that this approach – strategic policy changes at the state level, along with smart implementation of on-the-ground strategies led by community stakeholders – makes a measurable impact.

Funding Options

Preventing, remediating and redeveloping blight take considerable resources – ongoing and one-time resources. Funding was not provided in the enabling legislation. Since land banks deal with properties that no one else wants, self-financing is unlikely. Land banks will struggle if not fully funded and are more likely to be successful if fully funded, including having dedicated and paid staff. Partnerships and leveraging investments from private and public sources are needed. Below we share a list of potential resources for funding land bank operations.

Local and County Funding Options

  • Share of real property taxes collected on property conveyed by a land bank as allocated by the taxing authorities (up to 50% for a period of up to 5 years)
    • This is allowed in the Land Bank legislation and requires agreements from the other taxing jurisdictions
  • Proceeds from sales/leases
  • Contributions from participating municipalities
  • County Demolition Fund (Act 152 of 2016)
  • PA County Housing Trust Fund (Act 137)

State Funding Options

Federal Funding Options

Private and Nonprofit Funding Options

  • Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)
  • Borrowing
  • Bond proceeds
  • Income from investments
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