This project is significant to the land bank community because it utilizes a local Brownfield Plan to incorporate tax increment financing (TIF) into the deal. TIF helps to offset the construction cost and the homes’ market-rate prices. It's also a prime example of how investors can build new construction homes on vacant lots in local communities with the help of land banking tools.

By developing houses on strategic parcels within a neighborhood, project partners promote homeownership, generate long-term tax revenue for the city, stabilize the local residential housing market, build on the neighborhood’s strong sense of community and model a sustainable finance structure for future investments in Carriage Town and beyond.

For communities looking for more information on the logistics of using a local Brownfield Plan to incorporate TIF into an attainable housing deal, the State Land Bank Authority has partnered with the Michigan Economic Developers Association to create a Housing Development Using TIF guidebook. Because housing costs have increased faster than incomes, improving access to affordable housing is crucial to economic development growth all across the state.