City will temporarily hold foreclosed property
The city will temporarily take ownership of a foreclosed piece of property on behalf of the Kingston City Land Bank.
The city will temporarily take ownership of a foreclosed piece of property on behalf of the Kingston City Land Bank.
During a meeting Tuesday, the Common Council voted unanimously to temporarily take ownership of a duplex at 108-110 Henry St. while the Land Bank’s new board of directors sets up the organization. The property would later be transferred to the Land Bank along with 36 other city-owned properties approved by the council last month.
There was no public discussion among aldermen prior to the vote.
Brenna Robinson, director of the city’s office for Economic and Community Development, previously told aldermen that a mortgage lender called Mr. Cooper Home Loans would donate the property at 108-110 Henry St. to the Land Bank for $1. She said, though, the
Land Bank is still in the process of being set up and the city was asked to hold the property temporarily.
The Land Bank was formed to acquire title to city-owned property and other distressed properties with the goal of removing barriers to redevelopment and returning the properties to the city tax rolls. Land Bank priorities are expected to include ensuring reuse of the properties, providing opportunities for homeownership for those who might not otherwise be afforded such opportunity, maintaining a range of affordability in the city’s housing stock, and guiding the redevelopment of properties to enhance neighborhoods.
In an email Thursday, Robinson said the Land Bank’s board has been appointed and is set to hold its first meeting on Monday, Nov. 26.
“At that meeting, I anticipate that the members will finalize an acquisition policy and that we will be able to transfer the properties sometime in December or early January,” Robinson said. “Aside from the acquisition policy, it will be another two to three months before we have fully developed all of our policies
and procedures. But, in the meantime, we will begin by inspecting the properties and securing them for the winter, if they haven’t already been winterized.”
In an earlier letter to city lawmakers, Robinson had said the National Community Stabilization Trust, which is facilitating the property transfer,
was required to set a closing date for the sale as soon as possible. Otherwise the trust would have to sell the property on the open market, she said.
Robinson told the committee that because the Henry Street property was taken through a mortgage foreclosure, the back taxes already were paid.