Giving Compass' Take:

• Marian Conway explains how the St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority is revitalizing and stabilizing vacated neighborhoods through programs like Mow to Own.

• Can this model work in other cities? What are the advantages of providing benefits for the care of property? 

• Learn how Detroit is working to bring neighborhoods back. 

In 2012, Eltoreon Hawkins bought a house in the blighted Walnut Park neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, for $1000. He thought the empty lot next door was part of his property, and he took care of it. He discovered his mistake when he read the deed, but an alderman assured him that maintaining the property would pay off. Hawkins became the first individual to participate in the Mow to Own program. In 2014, the mayor himself handed Hawkins the title to the empty lot; for just $125, Hawkins earned the ownership of a plot of vacant land because he kept it mowed for the required two years.

In the latest fiscal year, 80 homeowners were successful in getting land title, joining Hawkins in the Mow to Own club. The now 25-year-old manager of a meal delivery nonprofit is currently working towards turning over the neighborhood, one lot at a time. He has bought two more homes close by for $2,500 and $3,500; one, he rehabbed to rent, and one he gave to his mother.

“My vision is to start on the block, in the neighborhood where I live,” he says. “I want to stabilize it. I see it as my chance to give back to my immediate community.”

The St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) is the city’s land bank, which currently lists about 600 vacant lots in the same ward as Hawkins’s. They offer the homes for sale at an average price that ranges from $1000 to $3500.

Read the full article about Mow to Own by Marian Conway at Nonprofit Quarterly.