The Wichita City Council has unanimously approved the creation of a city-funded and -operated land bank that will be overseen by trustees each council member appoints. The concept of a land bank is to acquire distressed houses and get them into the hands of local nonprofit groups that can repair or replace them, such as Habitat for Humanity or Mennonite Housing. Money could also be used to acquire abandoned commercial properties and help develop, for example, neighborhood grocery stores to address Wichita’s “food desert” problem, where low-income residents have to travel long distances by bus to get fresh meat and produce, Assistant City Manager Scot Rigby has previously said.
Source: Wichita News
