City Council grills Land Bank on selling only 1,017 vacant properties in over a decade

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker is depending on 6,000 parcels of city-owned vacant land to fuel her ambitious housing agenda, which is meant to spur the construction of thousands of new homes.

But City Council members are skeptical that the Philadelphia Land Bank — which is meant to get vacant parcels into productive use — is up to the challenge.

Since it was created in 2013, only 1,017 properties have been redeveloped out of the 8,000 publicly held parcels documented during the land bank’s creation.

“It doesn’t feel very effective,” Councilmember Cindy Bass said at budget hearings for the Philadelphia Department of Planning and Development on Tuesday. “If this was a business, and my goal is to get as close as possible to zero … I’d be out of business.”

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier asked why, if the land bank is central to the Parker administration’s plans, there is no request for an increase to its budget this year.

At an October hearing, land bank executive director Angel Rodriguez told Gauthier that the agency might request more resources in 2025 to pay for much-needed new staff and a new website.

“Why doesn’t the proposed budget give you more for operations?” Gauthier asked Tuesday. “At the [earlier] hearing you were pretty clear about [needing] additional capacity. I don’t seem to see that here.”

Rodriguez noted that the land bank filled some vacant positions, including hiring a new attorney, but that key positions like the real estate director remain open.

The administration did not respond to questions about the lack of annual performance reviews or a three-year strategic plan, which the land bank has not been producing since Mayor Jim Kenney’s second term.

The agency has created the website advocates have long called for.

Rodriguez noted that there are currently 6,000 publicly held parcels available because 1,017 have been transferred to new owners and roughly 1,000 have been taken out of consideration because they host community gardens or other publicly beneficial uses.

“We have a lot of neighborhood gardeners that are actively utilizing space,” Rodriguez said. “We know they’re not in a position to actually take on the title and the responsibility, so those are [still city] owned and managed properties.”

Rodriguez also noted that during Parker’s administration, properties have been moving through the land bank at an accelerated pace as Council members embrace the Turn The Key program, which creates affordable homes for purchase.

He said 583 properties have been identified for disposition this year. The long-stalled sheriff sale process is active again, too, so the land bank can start acquiring derelict private properties. The overwhelming majority of vacant land in Philadelphia — at least 30,000 parcels — is privately held.

Parker also wants to work with Council to craft a list of properties that would not require legislative action to move through the land bank. This requirement was inserted into the agency’s rules to ensure its passage in 2013, but national land bank experts warn against the idea because it injects political favoritism into land policy. Council members have, for personal and political reasons, routinely refused to allow the land bank to dispose of property or steered it to friends and allies.

That fraught debate was not raised at Tuesday’s hearing. But Council members questioned whether the long-beleaguered agency was positioned for success.

“After today’s hearing, it is clear that City Council will need to work with the Parker administration to make sure the approved budget increases the Land Bank’s capacity to create affordable housing and protect community gardens,” Gauthier said in a statement.