St. Louis Aims to Leverage Public Land for Housing and Climate Resilience

City leaders look to strategically deploy vacant, publicly-owned parcels to address affordability and sustainability

Published on Feb. 10, 2026

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St. Louis has a substantial inventory of over 24,000 vacant and abandoned parcels, with roughly 10,000 held by the city's Land Reutilization Authority. City leaders are shifting from planning to execution, seeking to leverage this public land to support incremental housing production and advance climate resilience initiatives.

Why it matters

Public land represents a powerful but often underutilized tool for cities to address housing affordability, climate adaptation, and neighborhood reinvestment. St. Louis' large inventory of publicly-owned parcels provides an opportunity to strategically deploy these civic assets to support the city's goals around walkability, housing diversity, and sustainability.

The details

Under the Tishaura Jones administration, St. Louis adopted a more data-driven Vacancy Strategy Initiative and a new Strategic Land Use Plan to guide the use of public land. The city is now shifting toward execution under Mayor Cara Spencer, with plans to prioritize public parcels and pursue targeted land assembly to facilitate housing production and climate resilience projects at scale.

  • In early 2025, St. Louis adopted a new Strategic Land Use Plan.
  • The Vacancy Strategy Initiative was introduced under the Tishaura Jones administration.

The players

George W. McCarthy

President and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, who has argued that publicly held land may be one of the most powerful tools available to cities to address housing affordability, climate resilience, and neighborhood reinvestment.

Tishaura Jones

Former mayor of St. Louis who oversaw the development of the city's Vacancy Strategy Initiative.

Cara Spencer

Current mayor of St. Louis who is shifting the city's focus from planning to execution in leveraging public land assets.

Land Reutilization Authority

St. Louis' municipal land bank, which controls approximately 10,000 of the city's 24,000 vacant and abandoned parcels.

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What they’re saying

“Publicly held land may be one of the most powerful — and underused — tools available to address housing affordability, climate resilience, and neighborhood reinvestment.”

— George W. McCarthy, President and CEO, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (constructforstl.org)

What’s next

Under the Cara Spencer administration, the city appears to be shifting from strategy toward execution, with early signals pointing to sharper prioritization of public parcels and targeted land assembly to facilitate housing production and climate resilience projects.

The takeaway

St. Louis' large inventory of publicly-owned land represents a significant opportunity to address housing affordability and climate resilience goals. By strategically deploying these civic assets, the city can support incremental housing production, nature-based solutions, and other community investments that strengthen neighborhoods block by block.