The Family Housing Fund, a nonprofit affordable housing developer based in the Twin Cities, has launched a new organization to facilitate community development and neighborhood stabilization in Minneapolis-St. Paul and the surrounding seven-county metropolitan area. Twin Cities Community Land Bank (TCCLB) was established in late 2009 as a tool to help local governments, neighborhood-based organizations, community development corporations, and nonprofit and for-profit housing developers acquire foreclosed properties and return them to productive uses. The new organization has raised $30 million to help neighborhoods recover from the foreclosure crisis and is committed to helping its community partners maximize funds allocated through the national Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). For example, TCCLB will advance interim funds to allow local NSP grantees and applicants to respond quickly and effectively to property acquisition opportunities. The organization will lend to developers who are undertaking rehabilitation or new construction and will also provide community services, such as marketing and planning, to address barriers to revitalization.
In partnership with the National Community Stabilization Trust, TCCLB offers a two-pronged REO Property Acquisition Program. The first component of the program, called First Look, allows approved entities such as local governments and affordable housing developers to purchase REO (bank-owned) properties at a discount before they are publicly offered for sale. The second program component, Aged/Targeted Bulk Sale, allows the purchase of currently listed REO properties at an additional discount. As its name implies, the Aged/Targeted Bulk Sale program also allows the purchase of multiple REO properties clustered within a single neighborhood.
For more information on TCCLB, visit www.tcclandbank.org.
