# Finding Chicago-owned land & properties The City of Chicago has an inventory of tens of thousands of properties, most of which are vacant lots. The Chicago Department of Planning & Development (DPD) maintains and publishes the inventory, which is updated several times a year as properties are disposed (sold to a private entity or transferred to another form of government) or acquired. This Knowledge Base article describes two ways to find city-owned property: 1. Regular way 2. ChiBlockBuilder way (see the dedicated [[ChiBlockBuilder]] article) ## Regular Chicago-owned land filter The City of Chicago land inventory has tens of thousands of properties. The vast majority are vacant lots are not actively marketed for sale, but the city has [multiple programs to dispose of its property](https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/city-owned-land-sale-programs.html) (including ANLAP and City Lots For Working Families). There is a Property Finder filter to find city-owned property (use the screenshot below as a guide): 1. Open Property Finder and scroll down to the filters box that loads below the data table. 2. Look for the heading, "Gov't land" (see Screenshot 1). 3. Select the "Chicago-owned land (present)" checkbox in the list. (It's possible to look for both Chicago-owned land and CCLBA-associated properties at the same time.) 4. Then tick the "Apply filters" checkbox. The map and data table will refresh after a moment and show Chicago-owned lots. Chicago-owned properties are denoted on the map by a thick black outline. In the map and in the table, text will indicate what the property's status is and when the city last updated that status.  *Screenshot 1 showing the government-owned land filter* ## ChiBlockBuilder See the dedicated [[ChiBlockBuilder]] article for details on using the ChiBlockBuilder filter in Property Finder, rounds of property releases, and the Missing Middle Infill Housing Initiative. ## Notes about Chicago-owned land data Not all properties in the City of Chicago's inventory are for sale, as some may have already been sold. The City of Chicago does not guarantee that it owns or has owned all of the properties listed in its inventory, nor that the inventory is complete. Some Chicago-owned properties cannot be mapped and may include some properties in a given area. The City of Chicago has two primary methods to purchase its land, in addition to separate programs like Missing Middle, ChiBlockBuilder, and City Lots for Working Families (CL4WF) : 1. **Adjacent Neighbors Land Acquisition Program (ANLAP)** — intended for property owners to acquire land next to their homes for expansion of the home, garage, or a side yard. 2. **Negotiated Sales Program (NSP)** — requires a detailed proposal and project budget. The City of Chicago [describes additional land sale programs](https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/city-owned-land-sale-programs.html) on its website. ## Related articles - [[ChiBlockBuilder]] - [[Tax-exempt properties]] - Some of the Missing Middle Infill Housing initiative sites are described in the [[Proactive upzoning]] article - [[Cook County Land Bank Authority|Find properties in the Cook County Land Bank Authority inventory]] - [[Vacant properties]]