The main goal of the Chautauqua County Land Bank is to promote community and economic development through various programs to help address vacant and abandoned property issues. Through these programs, we can help minimize the negative impacts that vacant, abandoned, condemned, and foreclosed properties cause in our communities. We work with community organizations, affordable housing agencies, local municipal leaders and the county legislature to implement effective housing and blight mitigation programs.
Programs that the Chautauqua County Land Bank offers include:
- Demolition Program: By working with local government officials, the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation identifies and prioritizes blighted structures to be removed from the landscape. Abandoned, derelict properties are a magnet for crime and put undue stress on a community's public health and safety resources. Removing these properties makes neighborhoods safer and creates opportunities for green space and/or redevelopment.
- Sales4Rehab: Vacant, foreclosed homes that are structurally sound are acquired and sold below market value to community members who will commit to a renovation plan. Building home ownership in a community creates stability and strong connections. Through a partnership with Home HeadQuarters, Inc. (a CDFI lender based in Syracuse, NY) this program is now becoming more accessible to owner-occupant home buyers by facilitating access to alternative financing.
- Vacant Lot Disposition: The Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation sells or transfers post-demolition, vacant lots via its "side lot" program to a neighbor who is willing to take the responsibility and commit to maintaining it. Adjacent neighbors have the first right to make an offer for these lots, followed by other neighbors who have a proposed re-use. Some lots may be with-held for redevelopment based on the municipality's plans for redevelopment.
The Chautauqua County Land Bank strives to help our community combat problems associated with blight through the use of these programs. By acquiring, disposing, maintaining, and strategically reusing properties, we can aim to progressively develop Chautauqua County as a whole. View some of our various success stories that we've worked on in the past.