"We fulfilled a commitment, and that's important when you're using (public) funds," said Bridget Gainer, the Cook County Commissioner who chairs the land bank. "But more important is that 80 percent of these homes are returned to homeownership, and 65 percent of our developers are black and Latino, from the communities, so the money is recirculating in the neighborhoods we're working in."
The land bank's initial funding was $20 million passed along by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan from the state's $1 billion share of a $25 billion national settlement with the five largest bank mortgage servicers.