Expanding Urban Homesteading Lessons from the Local Property Demonstration

Responding to grass-roots pressure, Congress in 1983 expanded federal involvement in homesteading abandoned housing units through the Local Property Urban Homesteading Demonstration. The demonstration assessed the feasibility of federal assistance to state and local governments for the purchase of vacant, tax-delinquent real property for homesteading. This article evaluates whether the eleven participating cities were able to develop effective programs for purchasing tax-delinquent properties, the implications of requiring all homesteaders to have low incomes, and the prevalence of sweat equity to reduce the monetary equity or qualifying incomes of homesteaders. The findings have implications for the design of both federal and local homesteading programs.