New York became the latest state Friday to enact land bank legislation to deal with the burgeoning problem of vacant and blighted properties — one of the aftereffects from the nation’s foreclosure crisis. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the law Friday in what was described as a bipartisan effort. Land banks are entities that take control of problem properties and either rehabilitate the property or bulldoze it to redevelop the land. The strategy has met with success in some of the nation’s inner cities that have been ravaged by the foreclosure crisis, such as Detroit and Cleveland. Land banks have assembled parcels for green space, urban farming, side lots, community amenities, commercial development and affordable housing, among other uses. New York’s law will allow cities and counties across the state the ability to develop land banks, which would be tasked with converting vacant, abandoned or tax-delinquent properties into productive use. The issue is of particular importance in Western New York, where the volume of abandoned housing stock is overwhelming. Center for Community Progress President Dan Kildee, who wrote a piece on land banks for HousingWire’s August magazine, worked closely with the lawmakers who crafted the bills, which are modeled on the example of Flint, Mich., a city ravaged by the downturn in the American auto industry. The Genesee County Land Bank, created there in 1999, has been the primary vehicle for redeveloping the city’s vacant housing. Kildee, the creator of that land bank, says he believes land banking can yield similar results for New York. He told HousingWire that the Flint land bank has acquired nearly 10,000 vacant homes since its inception, demolishing more than 1,300 of those. Its projects have included redevelopment or repurposing of 2,500 properties. Kildee said the land bank has attracted more than $60 million in new investment to Flint. “Around the country, as communities face the fallout of a changing economy and the foreclosure crisis, land banking is giving local governments the chance to help re-set the real estate market and promote sound development plans for the future,” he said. Similar legislation is up for consideration in Pennsylvania and Tennessee, while Georgia legislators are debating an update of a land banking law already on the books there, according to the Center for Community Progress. Write to Kerry Curry. Follow her on Twitter @communicatorKLC.