City of Wichita likely to dissolve Land Bank program

A program to encourage affordable housing in Wichita may be dissolved.

The Wichita City Council voted at its meeting Tuesday to craft an ordinance to dissolve its Land Bank program.

That ordinance will come back to the council later this year.

The program, established in 2021, was intended to buy and sell properties to encourage affordable housing in the city’s core, but the city was unable to acquire land for the program, mainly through Sedgwick County tax foreclosure sales and donations.

“The inability to acquire properties through the tax foreclosure process, unlike other land banks in Kansas, is a contributing factor to the Wichita Land Bank’s struggle, but not the only factor,” the city said in a statement to the Eagle. “Direct outreach to owners of vacant and dilapidated properties or properties subject to tax foreclosure were not successful in encouraging donation to the Land Bank.”

Dissolving the Land Bank has been part of conversations at City Hall in recent years after it blamed bureaucracy and funding issues for its slow start.

The program acquired only two properties in its five-year history, which were sold through a request for proposal process to Wichita Habitat for Humanity. Habitat then built two single-family homes on those properties, located near Ninth and Ash.

The city said it currently doesn’t have any other properties in the program.

“With no remaining inventory, no active pipeline of properties, and no assets under management, the Land Bank is not currently positioned to carry out its intended functions,” a city agenda report said.

Federal funding also caused issues for the program, according to the city.

The only funding made available for the city to acquire properties were Community Development Block Grants, which have strict federal requirements.

“Land Banking is not directly an eligible CDBG activity,” the city said in a statement to the Eagle. “Development of affordable housing, public facilities, and infrastructure that serve low income people are CDBG eligible activities.”

The agenda report noted that it’s possible the city could revive the program if it finds another avenue to acquire properties.

Editor’s note: This story was updated after the April 7 City Council meeting.

This story was originally published April 6, 2026 at 4:23 AM.