Buildability
Score a property

Federal deadline ·

Your city publishes its vacant land on October 1.

Public Law 119-101 requires every CDBG grantee to publish a searchable database of the undeveloped land it owns. Most cities have never assembled that list. We already did.

Free. No signup. See your parcel count in about 20 seconds.

days until the certification takes effect

See the national readiness map

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 .

From that date, maintaining the database is a certification a grantee makes in order to receive CDBG funds. It applies to entitlement cities, urban counties, and state CDBG programs.

1,245entitlement cities, urban counties, and state programs HUD lists
4statutory tests, distilled from the twenty-nine words
9days until the certification takes effect
$0for the assembled inventory. The list is not the product.

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 has not issued implementing guidance. 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 verdict, in about 20 seconds

One search in. Four tests, one inventory out.

Every grantee page renders the same four-test verdict, the preliminary parcel list, and the Buildability Score™ distribution across those parcels, before any email is asked.

  • Four-test readout. Pass or fail for each of the four statutory tests, with the observation date on the readout.
  • Preliminary parcel inventory. Parcels attributed to your jurisdiction, total acreage, FY26 CDBG allocation, and the county-assessor source line.
  • Buildability Score™ distribution. A through F across your parcels. The ones scoring A or B are the parcels that can carry housing without a fight.
Preliminary

Example

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

The live verdict page shows the assembled parcel count, total acreage, FY26 allocation, and the Score distribution, all before any email gate.

The offer

We’ll build your inventory. Free.

No pilot, no trial that converts, no card. We assemble the parcel list from county records, format it to the Section 104 reference schema, and hand it to you as CSV, GeoJSON, and a hosted searchable table you can link or embed.

What’s included, at no cost

  • Parcel list attributed to your jurisdiction
  • Section 104 reference schema formatting
  • CSV, GeoJSON, and JSON exports
  • A hosted searchable table and map you can link or embed
  • Line-by-line review sheet for your staff to confirm
  • A methodology memo for your CDBG file documenting source, date, and method

What’s not included

  • We do not decide which parcels are “undeveloped.” Your staff does.
  • We do not certify compliance. Your jurisdiction certifies.
  • GIS cleanup, system integration, and ongoing maintenance are separate engagements.
  • We don’t use your name or logo publicly without written approval.

The list is free because the list isn’t the product. The question of what can be built on it is.

Start your inventory — upload the list you haveSee what Buildability™ scores in your city

The pipeline

The list is the deadline. The pipeline is the point.

Congress didn’t require these inventories so cities would have lists. The statute is a housing act. The moment your vacant land is public, the question changes from do you have a database to why isn’t anything being built there.

Buildability™ scores every parcel in your inventory across nine weighted factors: zoning, flood, seismic, soil, radon, wildfire, utilities, terrain, and lot geometry, tuned to your region. You get a ranked list of which parcels can actually carry housing, which need work, and which never will.

  1. 01

    Publish.

    Meet the October 1 certification.

  2. 02

    Score.

    Rank every parcel by what it can support.

  3. 03

    Dispose.

    Take the developable ones to council, RFP, or a developer.

That’s the memo your council asks for in November. It’s also the answer when a developer calls about a parcel and your staff has thirty minutes to figure out whether it’s worth a meeting.

Score a parcel in your city

No card at signup. Full refund if we miss SLAs. Cancel any time.

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

Nobody is ready.

1,296
grantees in the index
0
grantees observed
52
states & territories
9
days until certification
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 on guidance is sound for decisions guidance will actually change: how you define “undeveloped,” what you publish about each parcel, how you handle disputed title. It does not move the date. The certification at 42 U.S.C. § 5304(b)(7) takes effect October 1 whether or not an implementing notice exists, and whether you are ready is your jurisdiction’s call with counsel, not ours. What we would say is that the parcel list is the input under every definition HUD could publish. A narrower definition means striking rows from a list you already have; starting from nothing in November means starting from nothing.

Couldn’t we just publish a spreadsheet?

Possibly, and if your counsel reads a posted spreadsheet as a searchable database on a publicly accessible website, that is their call to make. The statute compels an inventory, not an analysis. The question we would ask is a different one: a year from now, can a developer, a state administrator, or HUD read your list against the next jurisdiction’s? That depends on consistent fields and stable parcel identifiers, which is what a schema is for. Ours is published openly so you can adopt it, narrow it, or reject it and use your own.

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.

Why is this free?

Because compliance hosting is a commodity and we’re not a compliance vendor. We want to be the intelligence layer on the land after it’s published.

What’s the catch on the free inventory?

There isn’t one, and there’s no logo use or public naming without your written approval. If you take the list and never speak to us again, that’s a fine outcome.

Can this be embedded on our site?

Yes. Link it or embed it so it reads as part of your own site.

Do you have an API?

A REST API and MCP server are in build and not publicly available yet. We’ll tell you when they ship rather than sell you a date.

For developers

Buying land, not publishing it?

On October 1, roughly 1,245 jurisdictions publish their undeveloped holdings for the first time. Buildability™ scores all of it: every parcel, every jurisdiction, one national index.

See scored public land near you
A town seen from above with every lot tinted by its score.

9 days.

Find your jurisdiction. See the parcels. Take the list. It’s yours either way.

Find my jurisdiction

Confirm findings with your own records and counsel before certifying.