HOW CAN WE GET ACCESS TO LAND?
And how can we STAY on that land?
This station is about growers and land. It’s about understanding who tends the land, who owns the land, and how we can protect the land we cultivate over time.
Moving from the historic timeline to this station, consider how long-standing power structures and relationships have led to current struggles with garden loss and land insecurity. It is necessary to consider barriers to land access today as continuations of racialized land-based oppression.
It is also important to acknowledge the very tense history around land ownership, occupation, and stewardship for Black and Native American communities. European settlers performed genocide on Native American communities so that they could steal Native American land. At the same time, African Indigenous people were enslaved and transported to this continent for their skilled farm labor. The foundations of America as we know it are based on stolen land, stolen labor, and stolen lives. We must first start with an acknowledgment of these truths before discussing how land is valued, commodified, and privatized today. We want to move beyond treating land as a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded, and to treat her as a living entity to be respected, cared for, and appreciated for the many gifts she continues to offer us.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR ACCESS TO LAND or what's keeping you from gardening or farming, SHARE YOUR STRUGGLES WITH LAND INSECURITY in Philadelphia today, and help us TRACK PAST AND ONGOING LAND LOSS.
Tell us about where you garden or farm, or what's keeping you from gardening or farming.
Longevity and land security matter.
Growers cultivate not just their plants, but their soil quality, water access, physical space, and community relationships. This is a form of conservation that is important for urban areas facing climate change. Stewarding the land takes time and resources, so growers need assurance that they can stay on the land they tend year after year. However, systemic, structural, racial and socio-economic barriers often prevent communities from being able to stay on the land they tend and self-determine their own food systems. Many gardens and farms exist on public or abandoned land; lacking land security, these spaces are therefore at-risk for eviction.
WHAT IS THE STATE OF LAND SECURITY IN PHILLY?
Image source: Philadelphia Land Bank Strategic Plan
There are more than 400 active gardens and farms in Philadelphia across more than 900 parcels or pieces of land.
Sometimes a garden consists of just one parcel, while other gardens are made up of multiple parcels.
A garden has LAND SECURITY when all of its parcels are owned by the gardeners or a trusted organization or entity that will protect the garden over time.
A garden LACKS LAND SECURITY when one or more of its parcels are owned by an individual or entity that does not intend to preserve the garden over time.
* We are still learning about new gardens. These numbers are estimates based on what we know now based on data from the Philadelphia Garden Data Collaborative and Office of Property Assessment.
DID YOU KNOW?
Fewer than half of gardens are secure. This means the whole garden is owned by the gardeners / farmers or a supportive organization, including parks, schools, or land trusts.
Of the garden parcels that are not secure or high risk of being lost, the City owns nearly three-quarters of the lots, and the remaining quarter are privately-owned.
1 in 3 active gardens or farms are in areas with the highest density of new construction, making them vulnerable to demolition and/or development.
Our City Councilmembers and agencies have the power to preserve many of these gardens in public land if they choose to.
High density means a lot of new construction in the area. Low density means some new construction in the area.
POLICY NOTICE!
The process of gaining access to city-owned land has changed significantly over the past few years.
The Philadelphia Land Bank is no longer accepting Expressions of Interest (EOIs). Instead, residents interested in securing land for gardening and farming should
Go to the Land Bank's webpage for Community Gardens and Open Space
From there, visit the Property Map to see if the lot is available through the Land Bank, and
If the lot is available, fill out an application to purchase the land.
There is no mention of garden agreements on the website, but this is still an option for short-term leases available through the Land Bank.
We need to repair the history of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) land loss and protect existing gardens and farms to help meet the need for fresh, affordable, nutritious food in our City.
City policies recognize urban agriculture as a long-term land use, but in practice, the process of acquiring property to preserve an existing garden or establish a new growing space is complicated, lengthy, and not transparent. Delays and inaction have resulted in land loss, primarily in the form of gardens being sold at Sheriff Sale and being bought by developers.
In gentrifying areas, once industrial and working-class African American neighborhoods, rising land values coupled with the City’s policies and procedures for selling or transferring surplus land threaten growers’ attempts to secure the land their gardens reside on. Some gardeners don't have the funding or legal support to secure their gardens before they are sold. Others are tending and pouring resources into and investing in land that has been sold to the highest bidder. In these situations, it is only a matter of time before their investment and livelihood is literally reduced to rubble. Over the years, gardens have been bulldozed, and new buildings now stand in their place. This perpetuates the United States’ history of Black and Native American land theft. Across the country, US legislation has resulted in Native American tribes experiencing loss of over 90 million acres. Similarly, Black farmers have experienced between 80-90% land theft since 1920 when they owned over 16 million acres. What we see in Philadelphia is a local example of what has been happening to Black and Native American communities across this country for centuries.
Citywide, 78% of Black residents and 80% of Spanish-speaking residents live in areas of high poverty.
DID YOU KNOW?
About 7 in 10 active gardens & farms are in high poverty areas.
About 1 in 3 active gardens or farms are in racially concentrated areas of poverty (RCAP). In RCAP areas, over 50% of residents are people of color and at least 2 in 10 residents live below the poverty line.
Quotes from participants at first public meeting
Tell us about your struggles with land insecurity.
Quote from participant at first public meeting, calling for a regularly-scheduled survey of all gardens in Philadelphia to improve available data and track trends over time
WHAT LAND HAVE WE LOST?
According to Popular Mechanics Magazine, there were 18 million Victory Gardens nationwide in 1943, and two-thirds of those gardens were in cities and suburbs. Half the civilian population depended on home gardens for their year-round supply of vegetables at that time. One local historian estimates that more than half of Philadelphia’s fresh food came from local Victory Gardens after World War II.
Without clear and comprehensive records, we cannot track the number of gardens that have been lost over the last decade, but we do know from stories, news articles, and research by members of the Philadelphia Garden Data Collective that many gardens have been lost.
Help us keep track of gardens and farms that have been lost.
Quote from participant at first public meeting
WANT MORE INFORMATION?
Check out Grounded in Philly's guide to STAY ON YOUR LAND to learn about pathways to ownership, resources, and support to guide you through the process.
Please note, that the City's process for requesting land is managed by the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC), which hosts the Philadelphia Land Bank. The agency changed its Disposition Policies in 2019, and new policies went into effect on January 1, 2020. The Grounded in Philly resources may require updating to reflect policy changes.
Grounded in Philly is a project of the Garden Justice Legal Initiative, which provides pro bono legal support, policy research and advocacy, and community education to community gardens and market farmers in the Philadelphia region.
The Neighborhood Gardens Trust, dedicated to preserving community gardens across Philadelphia, also supports community gardens navigating challenges to land access and land security.
Thank YOU for your thoughts ABOUT LAND SECURITY AND ACCESS TO LAND!
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