ePropertyPlus

06/04/2020

Housing Supply Constraints from before the Pandemic Will Worsen Inequality as We Start to Recover

Great Urban Institute brief shows how values of lower-cost units rise quickly due to high demand. Low-income households bear the brunt. Things will get worse post-Covid, w/o rapid production of lower cost housing, wage increases, or other interventions. https://zcu.io/g0Z1

These constraints will hamper our ability to bring all households out of the crisis and onto the road to a full recovery.

05/29/2020

Persistent community flood risk looms as we enter the spring wet season. Many owners lack insurance to rebuild or replace. Encouraging owners to get coverage and and restricting building in high risk areas can help reduce future costs and pain. https://zcu.io/EAgF

05/28/2020

Absent Fed Help, State Budgets Will Be the Worst in Decades

Local governments have to consider whether revenue shortfalls point to 1) re-prioritizing - doing less with less - 2) rethinking - doing different things or 3) reinventing - doing the same things, but differently.
https://zcu.io/XZKv

Already, thousands of state and local government workers have been furloughed or laid off. Falling revenues and soaring demand could lead to budget shortfalls of up to 40 percent, making help from Congress crucial.

05/26/2020

Ulster County Exec Unveils Housing Initiatives

We're hoping Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan succeeds in expanding a land bank to serve Ulster County. NY's land banks are some of the best in the US. Under proper leadership and with strategic vision as guide, can serve the county well. https://zcu.io/MBXz

The Ulster County executive delivered a COVID-19 update Tuesday, announcing a series of initiatives to meet a growing need heightened by the pandemic —

05/26/2020

New owner for Troy school

A school in Troy, NY sat empty for most of the last 45 years, but it's being salvaged and converted into 20 affordable apartments. Buildings from the 19th century were built to last and preservation beats demolition. Way to go, Troy! Troy, NY - Economic Development https://zcu.io/ogpZ

The former Haskell School on Sixth Avenue in Troy will become affordable housing under...

05/26/2020

https://www.facebook.com/846690225449097/posts/2939782106139888/

One neighbor said there hadn't been a house on this lot in decades. The Land Bank took it over and kept it up for a number of years until it sold. The new house is just wrapping up construction and already has a buyer lined up to take possesion the minute they are finished.

05/26/2020

Editorial | Conrad Building’s days are numbered as city tackles blight

An update on Johnstown, PA's efforts to tackle decades-in-the-making blight illustrates the road to recovery starts with small steps and a plan to help lead the way. Way to go & good luck, Johnstown! @Johnstown Redevelopment Auth The Tribune-Democrat https://zcu.io/VQgq

Blight was one of our top issues when the coronavirus pandemic hit in March, and it’s right there waiting for us as we begin to emerge from quarantine in late

05/26/2020

Land Bank purchases distressed apartments

Land banks can do layered financing deals, as illustrated by this story from the Twin Cities. Partnerships driven by grassroots input, with strong public and private backing, can be a recipe for success. Congrats Twin Cities Community Land Bank https://zcu.io/mheU

Land Bank Twin Cities, a Minneapolis-based organization dedicated preserving affordable housing for ...

05/22/2020

Here's a great story on Cook County Land Bank Authority and how CCLBA's partnering approach with small neighborhood developers brings some stability to what is often a boom-bust business model. They have a great model to create win-win-wins. More: https://zcu.io/Oxu3

05/19/2020

Council Post: Geospatial Will Always Be A Little Bit Custom

ePropertyPlus is GIS-centric software for managing property and property data. Helping customers leverage geospatial info is a fun part of the effort. As per this article, GIS has to be considered in business context and customized to meet users' needs. https://zcu.io/SYhB

Whether it be because of the data we use, the questions we ask, or the fact that geographic intelligence is a horizontal layer across numerous markets, geospatial technology almost always needs a touch of custom work.

05/18/2020

More than one million households without a car in rural America need better transit | Smart Growth America

In many places where we work, there is little to no public transit. Getting to work, the doctor, or simply taking care of day to day responsibilities requires access to a private vehicle. Rural communities need public transit, too! https://zcu.io/2J9z

Many people think the only Americans regularly relying on transit to reach jobs and services live in big cities. Yet the majority of counties with high rates of zero-car households are rural. In fact, more than one million households in predominantly rural counties do not have access to a vehicle. R...

05/18/2020

More Productive from Home: Governments Learn to Love Remote Work

Remote work appears to be good for worker productivity. Less clear is what it means for meeting the needs of the public, who may not be ready for 100% remote service delivery. More on the worker benefits in this article.
https://zcu.io/olOz

Despite some hurdles, government through remote work is performing better than expected. It will likely lead to permanent changes in everything from labor management and technology to physical footprints.

05/12/2020

Land bank approves Decatur expansion

The Central Illinois Land Bank Authority continues to make progress and grow, adding Decatur, IL as its latest member community and removing a dilapidated house in Danville. Congrats to ED Mike Davis and the board - slow and steady wins the race!
https://zcu.io/3Ria

Decatur is now officially the latest city to join the Central Illinois Land Bank Authority.

05/08/2020

In public policy, catastrophes like 9/11 or the coronavirus pandemic often trace back to a failure of imagination. In the field of community revitalization, there are positive examples where imagination led to something amazing, as Next City shows here.
https://zcu.io/xnVC

05/07/2020

Delgado: COVID-19 a ‘Tsunami’ With Slowly Rising Defaults

There are few, if any scenarios in which a Tsunami is considered a good thing. Leaders in the mortgage servicing industry are raising an alarm now. Are leaders in Washington and the state capitols listening? https://zcu.io/ctOB

Speaking at an industry event on Wednesday morning, Five Star Global’s President and CEO Ed Delg...

05/02/2020

Local governments sell property to get it back on the tax rolls and under productive use. That's what the #RoadtoRecovery is all about. Managing post-sale inspections, reporting, and compliance in a single system is easy with @ePropertyPlus . Learn more: https://zcu.io/GogB

05/01/2020

Helping responsible owners buy publicly owned property is how that property gets back on the #RoadtoRecovery. ePropertyPlus software integrates solid data management tools & a free marketing website to make it easy for local governments to sell property. https://zcu.io/UaWL

04/30/2020

Land bank discusses Hideaway Bay, Green Arch Restaurant | News, Sports, Jobs - Observer Today

Many land banks focus limited resources on redeveloping a small number of strategic assets, to generate the biggest impact. Our friends at Chautauqua Land Bank demonstrate the importance of local stewardship - especially now - keep investors interested. https://zcu.io/J3bh

SILVER CREEK — Investors interested in possibly purchasing the former Hideaway Bay property along Lake Erie are holding back because of the unknown impact the

04/30/2020

Land Bank helps with interest in urban farming

Turning vacant lots into urban farms and gardens is a tried and true reuse strategy. The pandemic is generating more interest for local gardens and farms, like the program operated by Lansing, MI-based Ingham County Land Bank
Good on you, Ingham! https://zcu.io/84Kt

With the weather warming up, a lot of people want to get gardening. An organization in Lansing is dedicated to making gardening available to everyone.

04/30/2020

Tax Lien Sales are Not a Vital Tool for Recovery; People Are | Community Progress Blog | Center for Community Progress

Center for Community Progress offers 3 reasons why selling tax liens to private investors is not the solution some think it is for solving immediate fiscal stresses. Much better options exist. https://zcu.io/wH10

Center for Community Progress

04/30/2020

Local governments perform lots of services to stabilize distressed property. From trashouts and grass cuts to board ups and demos, @ePropertyPlus lets users track stabilization services and put real property on the #Roadtorevitalization. See how at: https://zcu.io/Mt55

04/29/2020

Preventing Post-COVID-19 Vacancy: 6 Interventions Local Governments Should be Thinking About Now | Community Progress Blog | Center for Community Progress

As the federal response lurches from issue to issue, we learn more about the virus and its impacts. One constant: the impact cascades downhill to communities, residents, and small businesses. Center for Community Progress offers some useful advice: https://www.communityprogress.net/blog/local-government-considerations-covid19

Center for Community Progress

04/29/2020

"(b)y Q4 2019, the US household debt per capita hit the all-time high of $42,935.13 after a steady increase from Q3 2013." Coronavirus + over-leveraged consumers = the perfect storm. The danger/damage of the patchwork federal response is immense. https://zcu.io/TNrw

04/29/2020

4 security concerns for low-code and no-code development

This speaks to us! Our public sector clients confront low-code application development risks, often times without realizing what they are. Our #ePropertyPlus mitigates these 4 common risks associated with low-code development and does so much more. https://zcu.io/GEc9

Low code does not mean low risk. By allowing more people in an enterprise to develop applications, low-code development creates new vulnerabilities and can hide problems from security.

04/23/2020

Preservation organization to plant native trees across Memphis - The Daily Memphian

Vacant lots and land consume lots of resources if you plant grass and mow it week after week. Planting trees, pollinator gardens, and other green projects put the same land to better - and potentially less costly - uses. Good on you Neighborhood Preservation, Inc. https://zcu.io/1XQt

Neighborhood Preservation Inc., is celebrating Earth Day with a pledge to plant trees in vacant lots across Memphis.

04/23/2020

Delinquencies See First Pandemic-Related Rise

Mortgage delinquency & default rates are warning signs of pending vacancy and abandonment. Americans' financial hardships will result in deferred property maintenance and could lead to neighborhood blight. How are you planning for it? We can help. https://zcu.io/jHcM

March saw a 3.33% rise in delinquencies, the first-ever rise for the month of March as COVID-19 begi...

04/22/2020

National League of Cities on Twitter

Twitter https://zcu.io/1sIp

“What's the primary cause of #COVID19-related municipal budget shortfalls? 96% of all cities reported unanticipated revenue decline as driving factor, joint NLC & @usmayors survey finds.”

04/17/2020

A distressed property represents dozens of data points. Data converts to strategic information, helping us see what's going on at a parcel level, when we organize data, images, histories, and more - into a single source of truth data repository. More: https://zcu.io/JPNG

04/15/2020

States Begin Plans for Reopening Economies After Pandemic

https://www.governing.com/next/States-Begin-Plans-for-Reopening-Economies-After-Pandemic.html

Pennsylvania will join five other states in coordinating plans to reopen their economies after the coronavirus outbreak has subdued. The aligned efforts are aimed at preventing neighboring states from enacting policies that conflict.

04/15/2020

Distressed Cities Technical Assistance - HUD Exchange

HUD shared an announcement about Technical Assistance for Distressed Cities - designated as: Pop. 8000- 40,000 | average unemployment

The Distressed Cities Technical Assistance (DCTA) program is designed to improve fiscal health and build administrative capacity of relatively small units of general local government (UGLGs or local governments) that are economically distressed and have been recently impacted by a natural disaster.

04/13/2020

Peoria County board unanimously approves split property tax payments

Counties must collect taxes, even as they might want to mitigate the hardship on households suddenly furloughed or out of work is tough. Peoria County is letting taxpayers pay in installments. This cuts the next payment due by 50%, buying taxpayers time. https://zcu.io/Q2zM

(PEORIA COUNTY) WEEK - A unanimous vote to split payments by Peoria County board members means Peoria homeowners will have a form of property tax relief. The decision effectively cuts the first installment in half. The intent from Peoria County Treasurer Nicole Bjerke, is to give residents a break,....

04/10/2020

Coronavirus Has Potential to Reshape Government Technology

Government IT weaknesses are being exposed for some, while others find their shifts to cloud-based & SaaS products are paying dividends and making them look very prescient. Getting data off desktop spreadsheets, creating remote working environments, and delivering services using COTs tools remains a pressing - and immediate need, especially for smaller jurisdictions. https://zcu.io/S4hd

The coronavirus crisis has made it clear that technology is essential to continuity of government. CIOs may see more of their wish lists fulfilled, but investing in IT will be tough with budgets heading south.

04/10/2020

Home | eProperty Innovations

Local governments confront significant IT challenges. The coronavirus pandemic accelerates the need to transition operations to the cloud and to deploy new IT systems quickly and with efficient procurement.

@ePropertyPlus is well suited to serve local governments in a post-pandemic environment.

• Cloud-based, it supports teams working remotely.
• The native Mobile app ensures access to property data and records through any smart phone or smart device.
• It’s flexible and adaptable, easy to deploy and affordable, at home inside of or adjacent to other IT systems and resources.
• A low price and SaaS delivery model means a quick procurement and rapid deployment.

For comprehensive, end-to-end property data management tools needed by local government, choose ePropertyPlus. To learn more, visit https://zcu.io/Nwtm .

ePropertyPlus™ is the comprehensive Property Data Management Solution for municipalities, land banks, and more. Premier Software Solution City & County Thought Leadership KEY FEATURES Consolidate and manage all of your real estate holdings. View and manage your data on embedded maps. Share p ...

04/09/2020

Community Development Is Crucial in This Moment — Shelterforce

Akilah Watkins-Butler, President & CEO of Center for Community Progress offers great insights into how philanthropy can help community developers of all types confront the challenges presented by COVID-19. We're happy to have CCP working in this space. https://zcu.io/wjdM

The pandemic is highlighting the crucial necessity of community developers’ work. To play its part in the recovery, here’s what the field will need.

04/08/2020

From the Covid-19 Crisis to Rebuilding our Public Technology Infrastructure in Local Government

Some useful suggestions from Next City for how local governments can adapt to serving the public in the midst of the corona virus response and make permanent improvements in technology, practice, and outputs. https://zcu.io/DbT9

Op-ed: The COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing efforts it requires are forcing the public sector to try to make some long-overdue changes.