After long hiatus, Philadelphia Land Bank will begin bidding on vacant properties

Have a question about Philly’s neighborhoods or the systems that shape them? PlanPhilly reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send us a story idea you think we should cover.

The Philadelphia Land Bank has reclaimed its priority bid status, enabling the public agency to acquire tax-delinquent properties at city-operated sheriff sales for the first time in five years.

During a special session Saturday, the land bank’s board of directors unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with the city’s embattled Sheriff’s Office, which had signed the agreement prior to the long-awaited vote.

The MOU will be in place for approximately one year, after which the land bank would need to negotiate a new agreement. The land bank will start bidding on properties at tax sales scheduled for June, Executive Director Angel Rodriguez said.

“We had been negotiating this for some time and we wanted it done. The administration also wished for this to be executed,” Rodriguez said before the vote. “We were all very motivated.”

Rodriguez declined to discuss details of the negotiations, which began in October. He said both parties negotiated in “good faith” to reach an agreement.

A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

Tax sales are the primary way the land bank adds parcels to its inventory of vacant properties. The vast majority of those acquisitions are repurposed to increase the city’s supply of affordable housing. A smaller percentage of parcels are used to establish community gardens and other open spaces designed to serve the community.

Under state and city law, the land bank is empowered to make noncompetitive bids on tax-delinquent properties. This is known as a priority bid. Typically, properties are sold to the highest bidder at sheriff sales.

The land bank has not had priority bid status since sheriff sales moved online following an extended hiatus partially rooted in the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The big things were things like, ‘What are our fees? What is the process going to be? What does that look like logistically?’ It’s now online. It used to be a different thing when it was in person. So this was really a lot of nuts and bolts more than anything else,” said board member Rebecca Lopez Kriss, a deputy revenue commissioner.

Saturday’s vote came two days before Mayor Cherelle Parker is scheduled to detail her administration’s housing plan during a special session of City Council.

The mayor is calling on the city to borrow $800 million in bonds to support the administration’s Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E., initiative, a plan centered on creating or preserving 30,000 units of housing during Parker’s first term.

While on the campaign trail, Parker said she wanted to use land bank properties to help expand the city’s supply of affordable housing. With the MOU in place, the agency will soon be able to support that goal.

Rodriguez said Saturday the land bank has $5 million in escrow to acquire tax-delinquent properties.

The sheriff’s office initially stopped holding tax sales in March 2020 due to the pandemic. They resumed in April 2021 but were quickly shut down after the office moved the sales online without approval from the city’s Law Department, which violated Philadelphia’s Home Rule Charter.

The six-year contract with Bid4Assets, a Maryland-based company municipalities across the country use to auction properties, was also considered problematic because it was awarded without other bidders. The city typically issues a public request for proposals that gives multiple companies the opportunity to be selected.

More than three years later, the contract was replaced with a new one and the sheriff’s office started holding tax sales again. Without its priority bid status, however, the land bank has not bid on a single property to date.

City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier applauded the board’s vote Saturday, saying in a statement that the city had “cleared an important hurdle.’

“I consider this first year a ‘test run’ under the new regulations,” Gauthier said. “We will keep the discussion active and look forward to making improvements as needed. I am happy that we can finally get back to acquiring land for the first time in over five years.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that board member Rebecca Lopez Kriss is quoted in the story.