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DeWine tells Valley officials state flexible on demolition funding
YOUNGSTOWN
Poor cities such as Youngstown that could struggle to find the dollar-for-dollar match needed under a $75 million state housing demolition program may have other options, said Attorney General Mike DeWine.
“People can be really creative on matching,” DeWine told The Vindicator during a Friday visit to a South Side neighborhood to discuss the demolition program.
This match can come from “a lot of different areas,” he said.
“Our goal is to assist communities," DeWine said. “We’re not going to be bureaucrats about this. We want to get that money out.”
When asked about using federal Community Development Block Grant money as a local match, DeWine said, “It’s a legal question that will have to be worked out with the cities.”
But DeWine said he is “convinced that there will be a match available. We’ll get this job done. We’ll be able to figure out and the communities will be able to figure out how to put this together.”
DeWine discussed the proposal Friday on West Warren Avenue in front of four vacant and dilapidated houses.
“In my talks with the attorney general, I believe we can do this counting money for new demolition employees, equipment and dumping fees,” said Youngstown Mayor Charles Sammarone. “This will increase the amount of demolition in the city immensely. We’ll tear down as many as we can.”
The city has demolished more than 2,500 vacant structures in the past six years.
But there are about 2,000 more vacant structures that need to come down in Youngstown, Sammarone said.
Warren Mayor Doug Franklin, who attended the DeWine event, called the announcement “historic. We are so pleased to address the issues of crime and blight in one fell swoop.”
There are about 1,000 vacant homes in Warren that need to be demolished, he said.
“The problem is so prevalent that we’ll be able to come up with the matching money,” Franklin said.
Overall, there are at least 7,500 vacant homes in the Mahoning Valley that need to be torn down, DeWine said.
The demolition program is part of the state’s $335 million share of the $25 billion national mortgage settlement with the country’s five largest mortgage companies over foreclosure abuses, fraud and improper practices.
DeWine’s office will be in charge of $97 million when the settlement funds are dispersed.
In addition to the $75 million for demolition, his office will provide $20 million for grants to assist those at risk of foreclosure or those who already have lost their homes and $2 million to expand his economic crimes division to go after criminals involved in foreclosure rescue and debt-relief scams.
The first round of money for demolition will be distributed by the summer, DeWine said.
“We have the same exact problem with vacant houses,” said Victoria Allen of the I.C.U. Neighborhood Block Watch, which consists of South Side residents who live a short distance from West Warren Avenue.
James J. Pirko, a commercial economic development specialist for Howard Hanna, said: “We need to get the blight out of here. It’s wrecking the real-estate market. Redevelopment will bring our community back.”