The Land Bank Capacity Program (LBCP) and Technical Assistance Network (TA Network)

 in Community Development Support / Housing / Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) by

Purpose of the Program

The Land Bank Capacity Program (LBCP) and Technical Assistance Network (TA Network) were established to provide access to funding and technical assistance for the creation and operation of land banks to communities in Illinois outside the Chicago metropolitan area. Both the LBCP and TA Network assist communities by providing grant funds to help empower local and regional revitalization efforts by increasing planning and land banking capacity.

Who is Eligible

Eligible applicants for LBCP must be a municipality, county, or land bank located outside the Chicago MSA. For the purpose of this program, outside the Chicago MSA shall mean all of Illinois but for Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties.

Land Bank Capacity Program Eligible Grant Activities include the following:

  • Develop and submit to the applicable governing body documentation sufficient to form a land bank
  • Off-set related legal expenses and holding costs in connection with on-going land bank creation
  • Maintenance and other activities
  • Fund reasonable start-up costs (including staffing and legal fees for land bank creation), and initial
  • acquisitions of 1-6 unit residential properties. Property acquisition costs may include:
  • Purchase price
  • Lien extinguishment (excepting property taxes, which are not eligible)
  • Legal costs
  • Title, recording, and transfer fees
  • Demolition costs
  • Costs of lot treatment and greening
  • Redevelopment and disposition of vacant and abandoned properties in order to return them to affordable housing and other productive use

 

TA Network Eligible Grant Activities include the following:

  • Providing individualized planning, real estate and other assistance
  • Conducting webinars for communities looking to form land banks/access community revitalization tools for programs available via IHDA or others
  • Creating, updating, and/or disseminating video tutorials to be made available via IHDA’s website, or otherwise made available to Recipients of TA Network funds

Creating, updating, and/or disseminating print media packages regarding land banks

Application Process

For more information, please see the Land Bank Capacity Program (LBCP) and Technical Assistance (TA) Network Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document in IHDA’s website at  https://www.ihda.org/my-community/revitalization-programs/.

Availability of Funds

Applications and their grant request amounts will be reviewed and determined on an individual basis and take into account the quality of the applications along with their proposed scope of work, as well as funds available.

Types of Assistance

Technical Assistance and Grants

Year Program was established

2017