Augusta Landbank Proposes Eight-Week Training Program to Convert Vacant Lots into Housing

Augusta's landbank pitched an eight-week course that could transform 250-plus empty parcels into single-family homes and duplexes. Parcels 2 Portfolio will teach weekly online lessons to families seeking homeownership or rental property development.

Shawn Edwards brought the idea before the landbank board members last week. Instruction spans project essentials. Students learn about contractor hiring, schedule management, and financing.

"We will start a virtual online class to teach those basics that become our conversations at the table," said Edwards, per WRDW. "This is what a performer is, this is how you procure your subcontractors, this is how you maintain schedule."

Participants gain access to banking contacts, construction professionals, and investors through landbank connections. Graduates receive a parcel from the excess properties list. Then they can start building.

"We introduce them to bank partners, we introduce them to builders and developers and investors," Edwards said. "As a reward of going through the training we are going to go through our excess parcels list and other possible acquisitions in order to make land available so the project can manifest."

Most properties arrive through deaths, code violations, and tax sales. Consider 1919 First Avenue, which is an abandoned residence whose owner passed away six years ago. Officials deemed it unfit for humans before the landbank acquired it at a tax sale.

This initiative returns dormant properties to the tax rolls while creating new housing stock. Edwards anticipates applications launching next month.

Final approval remains pending. The landbank attorney is reviewing the plan before the board votes.