Decades of disinvestment and structural racism have led to high concentrations of City-owned vacant land on the South and West sides of Chicago. Institutions including the City of Chicago permitted the practices of urban renewal, redlining, contract buying, and the building of highways, which displaced Black and Brown communities and cut off access to resources and wealth. This has contributed to the proliferation of neighborhood blight, reduction of community safety, and hindering of neighborhood vitality. 

Learning from lessons of the past, the City aims to support communities in putting vacant land back into productive use, driven by the values of transparency, justice, community leadership, and transformation. The new program will facilitate community ownership by allowing residents and developers to quickly and easily identify city lots that are for sale and be guided through a clear sales process with up-front expectations. The improvements to the City's process now will support community building for years to come. 

Vacant land presents an opportunity for residents to drive the direction of their neighborhoods. By leveraging the City's resources and support through the land sale process, the ideas that residents have for vacant lots can come to fruition. The new land sales program will attract local investment, give local residents greater control over vacant land in their neighborhood, build wealth in communities, and ensure land gets put to productive use in a community-driven and equitable manner.