St. Joseph County, South Bend consider land bank partnership to address vacant properties

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- St. Joseph County and the city of South Bend are weighing a partnership that would allow the city to purchase abandoned properties from tax sales and return them to productive use, a move that could save taxpayer dollars and clean up long-neglected lots.

If approved, the partnership would transfer any property that doesn’t sell at a tax sale to a land bank operated by the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG), which would then be responsible for repurposing the land.

South Bend has grappled with abandoned properties for more than a decade. In 2013, then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg launched a push to address 1,000 vacant or abandoned homes in 1,000 days. That initiative repaired 44% of the properties surveyed and demolished the rest, leaving hundreds of vacant lots scattered across the city.

County Council member Bryan Tanner said the new proposal aims to create a more sustainable approach.

“So the proposed ordinance for establishing a land bank is really a multi-jurisdictional partnership,” Tanner said.

Vacant lots currently require ongoing maintenance funded by taxpayers, including mowing, trash removal and responses to safety concerns.

“It’s a drain on public resources, because… somebody has to continue to mow and maintain that property,” Tanner said. “So there’s a cost to keeping it even though it doesn’t belong to anybody.”

MACOG officials believe the land bank could enable the positive reuse of about 300 vacant homes, with a focus on converting them into affordable housing. If approved, South Bend and St. Joseph County would join other Indiana communities — including Evansville and Indianapolis — that have already adopted land bank models.

“These communities have been successful in consolidating this land that’s been cyclical in that tax sale process,” Tanner said. “What they’ve done… is bundled the land together to actually develop it, to put more housing in place — affordable housing in many cases.”

The full County Council is expected to vote on the resolution December 9.