Community Regeneration, Sustainability, and Innovation Act of 2009
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Feb 23, 2009
Community Regeneration, Sustainability, and Innovation Act of 2009 - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to carry out a demonstration program, under multiyear cooperative agreements with local governments experiencing at least 20% population loss since 1970 (or consortia of them), to encourage and test innovative vacant property reclamation and urban infrastructure renewal strategies in older industrial cities, their suburbs, and metropolitan areas with a history of severe population and employment loss, blight, and decay caused by vacant properties.
Specifies as vacant property and program capacity activities establishment of: (1) local or regional land banks; (2) recovered building materials reuse and recycling infrastructure, facilities, and technical support; (3) local government purchasing requirements for deconstruction to make use of existing building materials stock in new and rehabilitation construction; and (4) the ability of state and local courts and administrative agencies to address problems caused by vacant and abandoned properties, and to facilitate their transfer to public control under a local or regional land bank.
Enumerates other related activities, including: (1) expansion and improvement of code enforcement capabilities; (2) development of data and information systems such as comprehensive real property systems, early warning systems, and vacant property inventory and tracking systems; and (3) amendment or reform of state and local property tax foreclosure procedures.
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Specifies stabilization, design, development, reuse, and planning and policy innovation activities.
Requires an applicant local government or consortium to establish a regeneration plan for the community or region. Directs the Secretary by regulation to provide for citizen participation requirements relating to the development and implementation of such plans.
Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to local governments (and consortia of them) for sustainability demonstration projects.
Directs the Secretary to convene a Federal Interagency Regeneration Communities Coordinating Council to develop federal agency support plans for communities receiving such grants.
Source last updated: Dec 12, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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