The Kingston City Land Bank has opened the lottery registration process for the last two properties of its Keystone Program, which utilized the city’s ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding and money from the New York Department of Housing and Community Renewal’s Land Bank Initiative fund to turn six foreclosed properties into freshly renovated, energy efficient beauties. These final two homes will be sold for $149,995—the most affordable offerings yet—via a lottery open to income-qualified families.
The three-bedroom, two-bath houses—52 Grand Street and 488 Hasbrouck Avenue—are “the most affordable homes to be offered in Kingston in 10, maybe 15 years,” says Land Bank executive director Mike Gilliard. “They’re fully renovated, they’re fully electric, they’re fully insulated to New York Stretch Code, which is the highest standard that we have in Kingston. People find that their utility costs go down by two-thirds when they buy a home from us, and their housing costs go down by half, at least, versus renting in this instance, probably more than that.”
Since 2020, when the KCLB began acquiring distressed properties, they’ve returned 29 homes to the city’s tax rolls. “We completed renovations on 15 single-family, affordable homes and placed 14 more back on the rolls—that’s $75,000 to $100,000 in new real estate tax revenue for the city,” says Gilliard. “We hope this is a beacon for a model that can be replicated. It’s not rocket science, it’s a way to give people the opportunity to build equity, which happens immediately upon purchase, since our homes appraise for two to three times the sale price.”
The lottery, which closes on October 3, is open to families earning between 65 and 80% of Kingston’s area median income, identified by the feds as $119,800 in April of 2025—a figure that some housing advocates say is inflated by the post-COVID influx of high earners from the metro area. (To participate in the lottery you have to register online.) “We want people to be set up for success, able to maintain the utility costs and school taxes,” says Gilliard. “So there has to be a floor. These homes are part of a bigger picture focused on affordability, not the whole story. It’s a big challenge in Kingston right now, and we’re grateful to the city for dedicating the ARPA funds to our purchase of these last six foreclosed homes and to the state for the DHCR funding.”
Moving forward, Gilliard says, the KCLB will be focusing on building new affordable units. “We’re going to be careful not to overextend ourselves in the transition, and we expect to have some exciting announcements coming soon. For right now, we’re excited to be getting two more families into homes in time for the holidays.”
For more on the KCLB and the lottery, visit Kingston City Land Bank’s website.
This article appears in September 2025.
This is a total scam towards poor people. The poor people buying these properties will never be able to get a standard mortgage financing and afford the taxes. Insurance and maintenance costs. Habitat tried to do this in Saratoga ny n failed. U can not lower the taxes on this property because it’s new construction. If it’s lowered.. every tax payer will request a tax reduction. If u add up all costs. It’s not low income. Stop trying to fool. The fool.
The landbank properties were taken from poor people who could not afford the taxes and upkeep. So let’s fix em up and re sell to new poor people. And with higher taxes. It only makes sense to people making money off poor people. Go f yourselves.
These same idiots proposed n got financing for a film n movie studio 30 feet from active railroad tracks. Lol. This is so hilarious. But it’s legal. Everyone involved is wasting taxpayers money.