Hello Newbugh!

Some quick updates: 

Our next board meeting is coming up.  Wednesday, March 19 at 4 PM in City Council Chambers.  And, as always, our Resident Advisory Commitee will meet after at 6 PM. 

Since our last update, we've been making a lot of progress.  The City approved the transfer of additional properties--the transfer will occur in the next couple of months and the inventory will be updated. 

Also, we are working with the City on the formation of a Rent-to-Own program for existing tenants of properties that the City has taken ownership of because of the owner's non-payment of taxes.  The idea is that the Land Bank will work with tenants, set aside a portion of the rent, assist with the upkeep of the home, and enroll the owner in home ownership counseling and savings assistance to enable them to purchase the properties they have responsibly rented for various periods of time.  We are optimistic that this partnership will lead to quite a few Newburgh residents becoming homeowners. We expect that the details will be worked out in the next month and the first batch of tenants will enroll in the program during the Spring. Stay tuned!

We are also pleased to be moving forward with our grant from the Office of the Attorney General.  We will be working hard to help the spots hardest hit by vacancy and the foreclosure crisis. The work will create new rental and homeownership opportunities in areas largely abandoned.  We expect to have more details ironed out in time for the next Distressed Property Task Force public meeting on May 21 at 7 PM.  

Finally, NCLB has been getting some good press!  Here are links to a couple of the articles!

http://www.empirestatefuture.org/geography/state/newburgh-community-land-bank-off-and-running/

and, a film and article about Land Banking in New York featuring a 9 months pregnant Madeline Fletcher:

http://newburghrestoration.com/blog/2014/03/06/newburgh-featured-on-community-progress/

Will post our agenda for the upcoming board meeting soon!

Thank you.