Philadelphia buys $1 million in liens to protect community gardens from sheriff’s sale

Holly Street Neighbors Community Garden in Philadelphia’s Powelton neighborhood, Viola Street Community Garden in Parkside, and the César Andreu Iglesias Community Garden in West Kensington are examples of once-forgotten lots that residents have transformed into green hubs.

“There’s a lot of kids here; it’s a safe space for them to be at,” Mara Henao, one of the founders of the Iglesias Community Garden, said after picking raspberries with one of the neighborhood children.

Until this week, Iglesias and other community gardens could be broken up any moment because the stewards do not own these spaces. Complicating matters, many of these gardens had liens on random parcels of the land that could be sold in a sheriff’s sale at any time.

The latter is slated to change for gardens across Philadelphia this week as the city buys more than $1 million in liens from U.S. Bank for 91 parcels of community gardens.

In 1997 the city sold tax liens on 33,000 properties to U.S. Bank for a much-needed cash infusion for the Philadelphia School District. The efforts, however, fell short and resulted in thousands of properties becoming privatized. The bank didn’t own the properties — often-absent third parties did — but it could sell the liens in a sheriff’s sale whenever it chose.

In 2021, those sales began to steadily increase, sparking a sense of urgency among community garden stewards who reimagined these once-blighted lots.

“Here in Philadelphia, communities of color have invested time and resources into restoring vacant lots, only to watch them being snatched up by wealthy developers and flipped for profits,” Councilmember Kendra Brooks said in announcing the purchase Tuesday at Iglesias Gardens.

Advocates say these beautified lots are safe spaces where children could safely play and they don’t want to see them transformed without their input.

“As we continue to grapple with historic levels of gun violence, our neighborhoods need community gardens and urban farms now more than ever before,” said Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, whose district contains 44 of the 91 parcels in the deal.

Still, councilmembers had initially hoped to do more.

Councilmembers had initially wanted to buy back liens on hundreds of community garden lots and side yards that were at risk of going to a sheriff’s sale. They ultimately had to scale back and focus on gardens first, according to Brooks’ office.

Last spring, 13 councilmembers asked U.S. Bank to hold off on sheriff’s sales but the company said it wanted to sell remaining tax liens by the end of 2023. U.S. Bank could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but according to the city, it had liens on about 74 gardens, 441 side yards, and about 1,600 other lots as of September. It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the gardens had parcels affected by the lien purchase.

Brooks was joined by Council President Darrell Clarke, Councilmember Quetzy Lozada, Gauthier, and more than a dozen community gardeners and advocates who have long fought for a pathway to own these lots they’ve helped revitalize.

Brooks acknowledged that the purchase of liens was only a first step. As the lienholder, the city has to create a pathway for community garden stewards to take control of these parcels, whether it’s through the city’s Land Bank or another method.

“Until the garden belongs to the communities who care for them, there will always be a threat of a developer somehow,” she said.