Newburgh Community Land Bank has been awarded a $2 million grant to provide affordable housing with money from banks that contributed to the housing crisis.
The grant is part of a $20.9 million pot of money that state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman is distributing to 19 land banks.
Newburgh plans to create 50 affordable rental units and help 10 families own homes, Schneiderman said in a news release. Previously, it received $4.4 million to fix 36 dilapidated properties and restore historic downtown buildings.
Statewide, land banks have received $57 million since 2013. Before this new round of grants, they have reclaimed more than 1,995 abandoned properties, returned 700 properties to market and demolished 409 unstable structures.
From 2000 to 2010, Schneiderman said, vacant properties increased by 27 percent in New York. The state Legislature established the land banks in 2011 and the attorney general began funding them in 2013 with money from settlements with large banks implicated in the housing crisis.
The new funding comes from settlements last year with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
