Chicago Expands Program to Sell Residents Vacant Lots for $1

Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images

Chicago is expanding a program that will allow those living in less-wealthy neighborhoods to buy vacant city-owned land on their block for $1, in a bid to bolster struggling neighborhoods.

The program, which began in the largely African-American neighborhood of Englewood littered with foreclosed homes in 2014, has seen the sale of over 550 lots so far. Residents must maintain and pay taxes on the property once they buy it. The program, which has been expanded to over 30 neighborhoods in the hurting South and West sides of the city, will include about 4,000 lots.

“This expansion will create opportunities to strengthen neighborhoods throughout the entire city of Chicago,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a press release Tuesday.

Known as the Large Lots program, the initiative is among several steps that cities are taking to reduce the psychological impact of foreclosed homes and vacant land on residents in these neighborhoods and to boost property values in all areas across the city. Other efforts include the land bank program, adopted by both Chicago and Detroit, where city officials buy and fix up abandoned homes, and then resell them either to potential homeowners or for community use.

Residents can qualify for the Large Lots program only if they already own a property on the same block as the vacant lot, are current on property taxes and owe no debts to the city, including parking tickets and water bills. The neighborhoods, city officials say, were chosen based on areas that had the most city-owned land as well as market demand.

Once a resident has purchased the lot, it has to be maintained by them according to the city code which includes the removal of weeds and setting up a fence. City officials say that many chose to build side yards, community gardens or landscaped open space in those once-empty lots. Among the sales to date, more than half are adjacent to the buyers’ existing home, and about 25% are less than five lots away.

Shacarra Westbrooks was among those who purchased lots in 2014 in her East Garfield Park neighborhood. The program, she said, “created some uproar” at first, as some in the community feared the initiative would open up their neighborhood to outside investors, raise property prices and displace them.

But Ms. Westbrooks “wanted to continue to invest in the area” and ended up buying two lots. She is in the process of turning one into a community garden showcasing the artistic and other talents of her neighbors and the other into a meeting place for East Garfield homeowners.

The program focuses on areas where property and land prices are significantly lower than the wealthy northern Chicago neighborhoods, and where violent crime—which has reached a grim tally not seen in over 15 years—plagues residents. A vacant lot in Englewood, for example, sells commercially for a 10th the cost of a similar-sized plot in the gentrified Wicker Park neighborhood.

“We have been having issues this past years with shootings, with unfortunate situations involving our youth,” Ms. Westbrooks said, adding that her garden plot has been designed as a safe space for children to play. “This is something that our community can be involved in.”

Applications will be accepted for the new plots through Jan. 31 of next year.

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