Sparrow donating vacant homes to two groups

Sites go to land bank, Habitat for Humanity

LANSING — University of Michigan HealthSparrow has donated nine Lansing homes on the east end of its Michigan Avenue campus to the Ingham County Land Bank and Habitat for Humanity Capital Region, which are partnering to renovate the homes for single family housing.

Margaret Dimond, regional president of University of Michigan Health-Sparrow, said during a Wednesday presentation at one of the gifted homes that authorizing the donation was one of her first decisions once she acquired a new title in August.

The homes and two vacant lots with a total value of up to $2 million in the Eastfield neighborhood and mostly within sight of the Sparrow hospital have frequently experienced vandalism or squatters, with police or hospital security filing reports almost twice a week.

Dimond said Wednesday the hospital system has an obligation to be a good neighbor and wanted to make the area safer.

She said the homes were acquired years ago, well before Sparrow merged with U-M Health last year, and there were no plans for the properties so it was best to donate them.

Other unused Sparrow-owned properties, some in industrial and commercial zones, are being evaluated for potential sale or future use as part of the merger, Dimond said.

Ingham County Land Bank is expected to start work in about two months on five of the homes and finish around fall 2025, said Alan Fox, the county treasurer and chairman of the Land Bank.

He said most of the homes have been converted into duplexes and will be changed back into single family homes.

The homes will be a “big deal to this community,” said Brent Taylor, president and CEO of the local Habitat for Humanity, which is getting the rest of the homes.

The renovations will be funded, at least in part, by a state blight elimination fund, Fox said, which will mean the land bank can help turn the homes into usable housing without spending too much.

“These will be not just single family, owneroccupied,” he said, “but these will be homes for members who may not otherwise be able to afford it.”

Ingham County Treasurer Alan Fox points to properties to be received by the Ingham County Land Bank during a press conference announcing University of Michigan Health Sparrow’s donation of properties to the county land bank and Habitat for Humanity.

PHOTOS BY NICK KING/LANSING STATE JOURNAL The three properties University of Michigan Health Sparrow will hand over to Ingham County Land Bank on Wednesday in Lansing.