Buildability™
Score a property

Section 104 · In effect since

Publish the land your city owns.

Public Law 119-101 asks every CDBG grantee to keep a searchable public database of the undeveloped land it owns. Most have never had that list. We build it with you, from the list you have or from county records.

Free. No signup. Your grantee page shows where you stand and what publishing costs.

What is free and what the licence costs

An illustrated civic hall beside a checklist and document trays, with the vacant lots around it outlined in blue.

The requirement

What the law actually says.

“…the grantee maintains, on a publicly accessible website, a searchable database that identifies all parcels of undeveloped land owned by the grantee.”
42 U.S.C. § 5304(b)(7), added by Public Law 119-101, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, signed July 11, 2026. Effective .

The requirement has been in effect since October 1, 2026. Maintaining the database is a certification a grantee makes to receive CDBG funds. It applies to entitlement cities, urban counties, and state CDBG programs.

1,296entitlement cities, urban counties, and state programs HUD lists
4statutory tests, distilled from the twenty-nine words
$0to build and check your inventory. Publishing it is the licence.

Publicly accessible

A resident can find it starting from your own website.

Searchable

A queryable database, not a posted PDF or spreadsheet.

Grantee-owned

Land the jurisdiction itself owns — not the county, not the land bank.

Undeveloped identified

Vacant parcels distinguishable from developed holdings.

The statute does not define “undeveloped.” HUD had not issued implementing guidance as of September 28, 2026. These four tests are our reading of the statutory text, published so you can check our work, not a federal standard.

Open the full compliance checklistAdopt the open reference schema (CC0)

Your grantee page

One search. Where you stand, and what it costs.

Every grantee page shows the same four-test readout, whether your inventory exists yet, and your licence price, before any email is asked.

  • Four-test readout. Each test reads pass or fail once we have checked your site, with the date of the check; until then it says Not yet checked.
  • Your inventory, or how to start it. Upload the list you have, or ask us to attribute it from county records. Nothing is public until your staff confirms it.
  • Your price. The annual licence for publishing, read from your FY26 CDBG allocation band.
Preliminary

Example

City of Provo, Utah
Not yet published
  • Publicly accessibleNot yet checked
  • SearchableNot yet checked
  • Grantee-ownedNot yet checked
  • Undeveloped identifiedNot yet checked

Every grantee page shows the four tests, whether an inventory exists yet, and the licence price for that grantee, before any email gate.

What it costs

Free to build. A licence to publish.

Building and checking your inventory is free. Publishing it is an annual licence, priced by your FY26 CDBG allocation.

Free: building and checking it

  • Upload the parcel list you have, or ask us to attribute one from county records
  • Every parcel matched to its county record, with the source and read date
  • Each parcel flagged “appears undeveloped” or “to confirm” for your staff
  • Redact any row, with a reason, before anything is public
  • CSV, Excel and GeoJSON exports for your own review
  • A methodology memo and a one-page council and HUD summary for your file

The licence: publishing it

  • A hosted, searchable public page and map at your own address
  • An embed for your website, in your colours
  • A live layer ArcGIS Online and QGIS can add by URL
  • A quarterly re-read of every parcel that tells you what changed on the record

Priced from your FY26 CDBG allocation, so a small grantee pays less than a large one. Pay by card, or by invoice with a purchase order.

  • We do not decide which parcels are “undeveloped.” Your staff does.
  • We do not certify compliance. Your jurisdiction certifies, with counsel.
  • We don’t use your name or logo publicly without written approval.
Start your inventoryAsk us to attribute it

After it is published

The list is the requirement. What the land can hold is the point.

Section 104 sits in a housing act. Once your vacant land is public, the question changes from whether you have a database to why nothing is being built there.

  1. 01

    Publish.

    A searchable page, map and download at your own address.

  2. 02

    See what it can hold.

    What your own code allows on each parcel, cited to the section. Where we have not read your code yet, it says capacity unknown.

  3. 03

    Dispose.

    Take the parcels that can carry housing to council, an RFP, or a developer.

Every fact on every parcel carries its record and the date it was read: the zoning district, the flood zone, the acreage, the owner of record. When a developer calls about a parcel, your staff can answer from the row.

Check a lot you know

The same section that creates the obligation makes meeting it a CDBG-eligible activity. Creating and maintaining the database is fundable under 42 U.S.C. § 5305(a)(27). The budget line exists before the purchase does.

Some jurisdictions can procure services at this scale as a micro-purchase under their own written policy. Check your policy and the current threshold at 2 CFR 200.1.

National context

Every grantee, one list.

1,296
grantees in the index
0
grantees observed
52
states & territories
Live
certification in effect
By state — allocation-weighted, largest first
StateGranteesFY allocationObserved
California187$365.6M0 / 187
New York52$317.4M0 / 52
Texas81$251.3M0 / 81
Pennsylvania51$184.4M0 / 51
Illinois51$157.8M0 / 51
Florida88$156.9M0 / 88
Ohio47$149.0M0 / 47
Michigan48$119.7M0 / 48
Massachusetts39$100.1M0 / 39
New Jersey60$87.9M0 / 60
Georgia29$83.2M0 / 29
North Carolina30$77.8M0 / 30
Indiana27$66.2M0 / 27
Missouri17$63.0M0 / 17
Wisconsin23$61.5M0 / 23
Virginia32$59.1M0 / 32
Washington37$57.9M0 / 37
Arizona24$53.5M0 / 24
Minnesota18$53.2M0 / 18
Maryland16$52.3M0 / 16
Puerto Rico28$52.3M0 / 28
Tennessee20$51.7M0 / 20
Louisiana16$50.8M0 / 16
Kentucky11$44.3M0 / 11
Alabama17$44.2M0 / 17
South Carolina19$39.3M0 / 19
Connecticut24$39.2M0 / 24
Iowa13$38.1M0 / 13
Colorado24$36.7M0 / 24
Oregon20$34.7M0 / 20
Oklahoma11$28.6M0 / 11
Mississippi7$27.5M0 / 7
Arkansas15$26.2M0 / 15
Kansas10$25.9M0 / 10
Nevada8$23.7M0 / 8
Utah20$21.4M0 / 20
West Virginia10$20.5M0 / 10
New Mexico6$17.8M0 / 6
Maine7$17.7M0 / 7
Nebraska5$17.5M0 / 5
Rhode Island7$16.5M0 / 7
District Of Columbia1$15.2M0 / 1
Idaho10$13.5M0 / 10
New Hampshire6$12.7M0 / 6
Montana5$8.5M0 / 5
Vermont2$8.2M0 / 2
Hawaii1$8.0M0 / 1
Delaware4$7.9M0 / 4
South Dakota3$7.3M0 / 3
North Dakota5$5.5M0 / 5
Alaska2$4.4M0 / 2
Wyoming2$4.0M0 / 2
Every grantee — grouped by state

Open a state to see every grantee it covers. Grantees with a fresh four-test observation surface first; unobserved grantees show as Not yet observed until we run a check.

California187 grantees0 observed
New York52 grantees0 observed
Texas81 grantees0 observed
Pennsylvania51 grantees0 observed
Illinois51 grantees0 observed
Florida88 grantees0 observed
Ohio47 grantees0 observed
Michigan48 grantees0 observed
Massachusetts39 grantees0 observed
New Jersey60 grantees0 observed
Georgia29 grantees0 observed
North Carolina30 grantees0 observed
Indiana27 grantees0 observed
Missouri17 grantees0 observed
Wisconsin23 grantees0 observed
Virginia32 grantees0 observed
Washington37 grantees0 observed
Arizona24 grantees0 observed
Minnesota18 grantees0 observed
Maryland16 grantees0 observed
Puerto Rico28 grantees0 observed
Tennessee20 grantees0 observed
Louisiana16 grantees0 observed
Kentucky11 grantees0 observed
Alabama17 grantees0 observed
South Carolina19 grantees0 observed
Connecticut24 grantees0 observed
Iowa13 grantees0 observed
Colorado24 grantees0 observed
Oregon20 grantees0 observed
Oklahoma11 grantees0 observed
Mississippi7 grantees0 observed
Arkansas15 grantees0 observed
Kansas10 grantees0 observed
Nevada8 grantees0 observed
Utah20 grantees0 observed
West Virginia10 grantees0 observed
New Mexico6 grantees0 observed
Maine7 grantees0 observed
Nebraska5 grantees0 observed
Rhode Island7 grantees0 observed
District Of Columbia1 grantee0 observed
Idaho10 grantees0 observed
New Hampshire6 grantees0 observed
Montana5 grantees0 observed
Vermont2 grantees0 observed
Hawaii1 grantee0 observed
Delaware4 grantees0 observed
South Dakota3 grantees0 observed
North Dakota5 grantees0 observed
Alaska2 grantees0 observed
Wyoming2 grantees0 observed

4 statutory tests · Observation counts every grantee we've checked against all 4. We do not fabricate a result: an unobserved grantee shows as unobserved until we've run the check.

Questions your attorney will ask.

Does this make us compliant?

No. Your jurisdiction certifies compliance; we do not and cannot. We give you the parcel list, the schema, the hosted table, and a methodology memo for your file. The certification decision is yours and your counsel’s.

HUD hasn’t defined “undeveloped.” How do you decide?

We don’t. We flag parcels that appear undeveloped based on assessor use codes and building footprints, and your staff confirms line by line. Our definition is published so you can adopt, narrow, or reject it.

Our association advised waiting until HUD issues implementing guidance. Why not wait?

Waiting is reasonable for what guidance will settle: how to define “undeveloped” and what to publish per parcel. It does not settle which land you own, and that list is the input under any definition HUD could publish. Starting it is free, so waiting on publishing and starting the list are not in tension. HUD had not issued guidance as of September 28, 2026.

Couldn’t we just publish a spreadsheet?

Possibly; whether a posted spreadsheet counts as a searchable database is your counsel’s call. What a spreadsheet lacks is every row tied to its county record, a reason on every withheld row, and a re-read that tells you when the record changes. Our schema is open, so you can adopt it either way.

Where does the parcel data come from?

County assessor records, with ownership attributed by owner name. Every parcel links back to the county’s own record so your staff can verify against the source.

What about land held by our redevelopment authority or a dependent district?

Title questions are yours to resolve. We show what assessor records attribute to your jurisdiction’s name and flag adjacent entities we found so nothing is missed silently.

What does it cost?

Building, matching, checking and exporting the inventory is free. Publishing it on a hosted page is an annual licence priced from your FY26 CDBG allocation; your grantee page shows the number. Pay by card, or by invoice with a purchase order.

Can this be embedded on our site?

Yes. A published inventory has an embed in your colours, and a live layer ArcGIS Online and QGIS add by URL.

Do you use our name?

Not without your written approval. No logo, no case study, no public naming.

For developers

Buying land, not publishing it?

Roughly 1,296 jurisdictions are asked to publish the undeveloped land they own. As grantees publish with us, each parcel is searchable with its record, zoning and hazards.

Buildability for developers
A town seen from above with every lot tinted by its score.

Start with the list you have.

Find your jurisdiction, or upload your list. Building and checking your inventory is free. Publishing it is an annual licence, priced by your FY26 CDBG allocation.

Start your inventoryFind my jurisdiction

Confirm findings with your own records and counsel before certifying.