OHFA Annual Plan - Ohio Housing Finance Agency

a “user-friendly” data system, with public access available on the internet. Its data onforeclosure filings and mortgages from subprime lenders is being used by nonprofit agenciesto proactively engage borrowers with subprime loans that are not yet in foreclosure in orderto prevent further abandonment. Once a property has been lost to foreclosure, data onbank owned properties and utility shut-offs is being used to focus property reclamation andredevelopment strategies.The ability of a large university to provide large-scale computing capacity on an ongoingbasis and to make information accessible in a variety of formats is critical to the task ofcompiling large amounts of data from a variety of public sources. Public information onland, its uses and the state of title, is not available from a single public source. Getting andmanaging that information is a critical function of NEOCANDO and a great benefit to anarray of public and private entities whose work and coordination depend on it.Recommendations:1) Support land bank legislative and policy reforms that would include thefollowing elements. 1• Land bank legislative and policy reforms are needed to modernize Ohio’s existing landbank statute, address the large and unprecedented volume of vacant homes on themarket, prevent destructive speculation and property flipping, and create an efficientand cost-effective process for disposition of the properties. Key features that should bepart of land bank legislation reform include the following:• The land bank entity should be an independent public authority governed by electedofficials appointed to the Board of Directors or included in state law as a part of theBoard of Directors when the entity is formed. The Board of Directors should have oneor more representatives from each major unit of local government in the land bankterritory.• The land bank authority is predicated on the county taxing authority and a functioningintergovernmental partnership between the county and/or counties and jurisdictionswithin the county/counties.• The legal land bank entity should be a public authority comprised of a county and citieswithin the county or multiple counties.• The authority should have broad discretion in setting disposition criteria with propertyconveyance resting with the authority except that in forming the authority, localgovernments could specify priority use of property such as housing, green space, oreconomic development, etc; but final authority on disposition should rest with theauthority.• The land bank authority should have the power and discretion for a broad range ofacquisition methods such as:• direct transfer of property from units of local government;• buying properties at foreclosure (tax foreclosure or other foreclosure);• purchasing property on the open market;• receiving donated properties, etc.• As a public authority the land bank would own property free of taxes.1031Proposed legislation with these elements is pending in the State Legislature (HB 602 and SB 353).