So here’s the question: When a developer can turn untouched farmland into 200 new homes comparatively quickly in an outlying area, can local leaders make a big enough impact closer to town with this drip-drip-drip housing approach? And if not, what’s the answer?
Ethan Harris, Clark County’s land bank director, gave a version of the “why not both” answer.
“I’m all about taking small bites and then small drips eventually fill the bucket,” Harris said. “What we need to show to the private developer is that this can be done (in the city) and you can sell for what it costs you to invest. The moment we hit that threshold of ... a financial return on investment, then the private market is going to take over this for us.”
Infill housing in the city
Many Springfield leaders want to increase and improve the city’s housing stock in lower-income neighborhoods where some residents have left and houses have deteriorated in recent decades.
For years, the city and the land bank (the Clark County Land Reutilization Corporation) have demolished many properties in the hopes of creating infill housing, but the process from blighted property to new home is challenging.
Steve Thompson, Springfield deputy director of community development, said the city uses multiple methods to improve housing stock and faces the challenge of creating “a big enough area through demolition alone that becomes attractive to developers.”
“Over the last few decades as our population has declined, we’ve seen a rise in vacant housing, and when vacant housing is left without anyone living in it for a while, it begins to deteriorate and can deteriorate very quickly,” Thompson said. “For a long time, our best tool we had to take care of those issues was demolition. Now, demolition is a really good tool because it abates public nuisance. However, you’re just left with vacant land.”
That’s where infill housing comes in. But that process has its own difficulties, from cleaning up titles to rehabilitating a blighted home or building new.
Costs can make it difficult to attract developers. But in the end, a neighborhood’s property values can go up, which in turn allows other owners to get more money from the bank to rehab their own homes.
A long process
Springfield has many spotty streets where run-down houses mix with well-kept homes of longtime residents. But land bank development project manager Kara Van Zant said without an entire block to build on, there is no “economy of scale.” She said the land bank has worked for years on getting funds for demolition to then develop a well-prepared site.
“It takes a significant portion of time and resources to be able to get to that point,” Van Zant said.
Developers speaking with the land bank about working inside the city express the need for multiple lots right next to each other for economical value, Harris said.
“You might be pouring five, six, seven slabs in one day and you’ve got all the contractors there to do that work as opposed to, you go to the east side of Springfield to do one site and the south side the next day and you have to move.” Harris said. “The logistics come into play and time is money where you’re spending one day at a single site doing five homes or you’re spending a couple weeks moving your equipment around to three or four different sites.”
Handling a blighted property can be a long process. The city does not take possession of the land after demolishing a home and the demolition fees are assessed to the property owner’s taxes, Thompson said. If the owner is deceased, the property ends up with the state. There can be liens or probate court proceedings that make the process more complicated, Thompson said.
“All these kind of little issues with each property, they add up to a big issue for developers when they look to do infill housing,” Thompson said.
Infill housing is not just building new, but also rehabilitating existing homes in distressed neighborhoods, Harris said. The challenge is that an old house valued at $100,000 may cost $150,000 to bring up to modern code, and a bank generally won’t finance that.
“That in essence puts you underwater and unable to fix up your home, and that’s been one of the driving factors for the blight in our community, is that the value just isn’t there,” Harris said. “That’s one of the benefits of doing these infill housing projects, is by us doing that, it brings up the property values.”
Difficult to find infill housing developers
Harris said infill housing is less profitable than development of green fields on the outskirts of the city.
“For us to build a new home in the city of Springfield, in the center city, they’re not going to sell for what it costs to build them, as opposed to these developments that we see out on the outskirts of town on these new developments, they will sell for what it cost to build them plus more,” Harris said. “That’s why you see developers in the private market doing that as opposed to infill housing inside the city of Springfield.”
Local developer Premier Property Sales has largely focused on infill housing since building on 18 parcels at the former McGuffey Elementary school site off of McCreight Avenue, which had been an empty field since the mid 1980s, President Clay Chester said.
The developer also built the Hillside Apartments at the former Warder Park School site.
Chester said Premier so far has built six homes on Englewood and Northpoint roads, and broke ground on another 11 on Northpoint this Wednesday.
Premier builds both single- and multi-family homes, and Chester said renting is becoming more popular.
Premier Property Sales is also the developer for a proposed 100-120 single-family home subdivision near the Eastview Heights neighborhood of Moorefield Twp. The project would fill 33 acres of vacant land.
A worthwhile endeavor
Infill housing can come with challenges like uncertainty of what’s under the site, but there is almost always already existing infrastructure for utilities, Chester said. Having gas, water and sewer services already “helps streamline the process,” he said.
Harris said there is a huge value to infill housing within the city.
“You already have the utilities there. You already have all the infrastructure needed. And we’re not taking out valuable farmland (for new homes). There’s your benefit to the community,” Harris said, adding that without the need for new infrastructure, there’s less need for tax abatement programs. “When you replace the home, the other property values go up, people take notice of a nice new clean structure. They start working on their homes and fixing up their homes. So, there’s a lot of intrinsic value in this.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
It’s difficult to make a big impact on the housing stock with only smaller, more sporadic projects, so the city uses multiple avenues, Thompson said.
This includes demolition, a mow-to-own program to give non-productive land to next-door neighbors, a public nuisance abatement program to save houses instead of demolition and the Vacant Property Registry, Thompson said.
“There isn’t kind of one thing that is going to make a huge impact; it’s kind of multiplying all these various tools together to really make a meaningful impact,” Thompson said.
The southern corridor and south side of Springfield have seen a lot of demolitions and the city is focusing new housing in these areas, Thompson said.
Residents in the newly finished affordable housing block on Clifton Avenue have appreciated property value increases and the improved look of the neighborhood.
Homeownership for new projects in these areas is often encouraged by low- or no-interest loans and down-payment assistance.
Recent infill housing, upcoming projects
One such project is Clifton Courts, which was recently completed with seven new affordable homes. The project is part of the Neighborhood Housing Partnership’s effort to increase affordable housing stock.
The houses are for first-time homebuyers earning less than 80% of the area median income, NHP Executive Director Rachel Goff said during a recent open house event. They are required to remain categorized as affordable for 10 years.
“One of the things that made this very nice is having homes all together helped bring the amount that it cost to build them down,” Goff said.
The land bank just began construction on four new affordable homes for renters to become homeowners. The houses will be single-family homes on East Liberty Street and will be 1,300 square feet with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a driveway for off-street parking and a front porch.
The homes are anticipated to meet surrounding comparisons in the range of $160,000 to $170,000, but the exact sale price for each home will be determined once the construction is completed based on size and amenities.
Last month, the land bank unveiled a multi-level plan for community revitalization in what’s been called the Engaged Neighborhood on the southwest side of Springfield. It proposes a community park, along with new apartments and single-family homes in three blocks directly adjacent to the Little Miami Scenic Trail bike path near West Euclid Avenue.
Premier Property is also working on a 38-unit apartment complex in Northridge in an area that had previously been a vacant lot.
What’s next, what’s possible
Harris testified at the statehouse Wednesday about pending Senate Bill 102, which would update many rules for land banks around Ohio. Harris said the bill:
* Improves the administrative tax foreclosure process;
* Introduces smaller, temporary property tax exemptions (no more than five years and 50% of taxes owed), for properties acquired through a land bank and redeveloped;
* Allows land banks to partner with townships for building demolition and nuisance abatement, not just cities.
* Allows land banks, under court order, to enter a property for safety and stabilization inspections if the home is vacant, abandoned, and certified tax delinquent.
“I respectfully urge you to support SB 102 and help us keep this work moving forward,” Harris told legislators on the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee. “This bill is a smart, responsible next step in Ohio’s efforts to address blight and vacancy.”
