St. Louis Hosts National Conference Focused on Vacant and Abandoned Properties

The City of St. Louis is honored to host the national Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference (RVP), set to take place from October 9-11 at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch. Presented by the Center for Community Progress, RVP is only national conference focused on the reuse of vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties. Over 1,000 community leaders, state and local policymakers, and community development practitioners from across the country will connect to learn and share innovative vacancy solutions.

What: Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference

When: October 9-11, 2024

Where: Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch

The conference will showcase St. Louis’s local revitalization efforts and provide national context for how other cities are building stronger neighborhoods. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in 34 sessions and 11 mobile workshops, featuring topics such as land banks, creative land reuse, new legal frameworks affecting vacant property, and strategies for promoting affordable housing.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones expressed her support, stating, “I’m thrilled to welcome the RVP Conference to St. Louis this year. Having this national conference here is a testament to the impactful work of the STL Vacancy Collaborative and the City of St. Louis.” 

The STL Vacancy Collaborative (STLVC), a coalition dedicated to reducing the negative impact of vacant property in the City of St. Louis, played a pivotal role in advocating for St. Louis as the host city for this year’s RVP Conference. 

Mayor Jones added, “This conference highlights one of the many reasons why the City’s Community Development Administration chose to partner with the Vacancy Collaborative in a 2-year contract to co-develop a Vacancy Strategy Initiative. By working with a diverse set of stakeholders from different sectors to collectively address the high concentration of vacant properties in our community, we are committing to working together towards a more vibrant and safe St. Louis.” 

The VSI builds on years of the STLVC’s grassroots engagement, research, and resource development to strategically and equitably address vacant property prevention, stabilization, and reuse, as well as essential programs offered by the City to transform vacant properties from burdens on city services into neighborhood assets. Several key members of the VSI will be presenting at the at the RVP conference.

Conference Highlights - see agenda: communityprogress.org/rvp24/.

Local Revitalization: Mobile tours will highlight St. Louis’s neighborhood revitalization projects. Offered tours include: The Delmar DiVine; home rehabs in South City; the Sunflower+ Project in Old North; Brickline Greenway; commercial revitalization on West Florissant Ave; vacant land reuse in College Hill; and more.

National Context: Learn how cities nationwide are tackling vacancy, including sessions on preventing illegal dumping; comprehensive vacant lot reuse; reusing contaminated properties; and more.

Connect with Experts: RVP brings together top national experts on property law, community redevelopment, and equitable revitalization. The conference is an opportunity to build a bench of local and national experts who can inform future reporting on a variety of issues.

Registration

Members of the media may attend the conference at no cost. Please contact Maria Elkin, Director of Communications at the Center for Community Progress at melkin@communityprogress.org to request a press pass.

Tickets are available for $800 (public sector) and $875 (private sector)

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About the Center for Community Progress: The Center for Community Progress helps people to transform vacant spaces into vibrant places. Since 2010, their team of experts has provided urban, suburban, and rural communities battling systemic vacancy with the policies, tools, and resources needed to address the full cycle of property revitalization. As the only national nonprofit dedicated to tackling vacant properties, Community Progress drives change by uncovering and disrupting the unjust, racist systems that perpetuate entrenched vacancy and property deterioration. Community Progress has delivered customized, expert guidance to leaders in over 300 communities and provided hundreds of hours of free educational resources as well as leadership programming to help policymakers, practitioners, and community members across the country return properties to productive use. To learn more and get help for your community, visit communityprogress.org.

About the Community Development Administration (CDA): The CDA serves as the City of St. Louis' hub for federal, state, and local funds, implementing the Mayor's economic justice agenda. By funding public and nonprofit entities, the CDA supports a wide range of initiatives, including public services, affordable housing development, blight eradication, and other community development activities. www.stlouis-mo.gov/cda/

About the STL Vacancy Collaborative: The STL Vacancy Collaborative (STLVC) is a coalition of community members, private and non-profit stakeholders, and City agencies committed to reducing vacant property in St. Louis. The STLVC helps to coordinate existing vacancy efforts under one umbrella and empowers the public and private sectors to work together toward solutions. We convene committees and working groups to facilitate systemic change, advance new policies, share success stories, and support neighborhood-centric solutions. The Community Builders Network (CBN) of Metro St. Louis serves as the STL Vacancy Collaborative’s fiscal sponsor.