Funds Will help Address Foreclosed Properties
Mayor Tom Henry today began to illustrate what $7 million HUD funds will do to strengthen and support neighborhoods in Fort Wayne. As he stood in front of a vacant house in the 3100 block of Hanna Street, Mayor Henry pointed to the well-maintained and attractive homes all around it.
“I've long had a commitment to strengthening and stabilizing our neighborhoods,” said Mayor Henry. “As you look up and down this street, you can see the effort most property owners put into keeping their homes and yards well maintained and attractive. But then one house sits empty for too long, and it deteriorates into an eyesore that impacts the property value of everyone else on the block. That's simply not right. This new source of funding will help us address houses like this one, either to tear them down or to rehabilitate them, and either way, the neighbors benefit.”
With foreclosures on the rise across the nation, Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act in July, 2008. Fort Wayne has been designated as one of the eligible communities to receive funds intended to help communities mitigate the negative impact of vacant and abandoned homes. Nationwide, nearly $4 billion is slated to be used for acquisition, rehabilitation or demolition of vacant and foreclosed properties.
The City of Fort Wayne is ahead of many other communities in the planning stage of how to use the HUD dollars. Soon after Mayor Henry took office, he directed community development staff to begin finding solutions to the problems of vacant and abandoned houses in the city, a problem made worse by the down turn in the housing market and the increase in foreclosures. The City's intentions for the funding are to continue to stabilize neighborhoods, increase home values and encourage investment in the City.
The State of Indiana is expected to receive about $83 million: Fort Wayne may be able to leverage some of that in addition to the $7 million the City has been told it can expect. The funds are released according to a plan the community has to submit. The proposed plan is now available on the City's website: (http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/images/stories/community_development/hns/files/NSP_draft.pdf) and also available for residents to look it over at any of the Allen County Library branches. The public has until November 24 to make any comments on the plan, which HUD will take into account as it doles out the funding.
“We'll be working out the details of how we'll identify private sector partners to work with us on this neighborhood stabilization program,” said Mayor Henry. “We'll be injecting revenue into the community for jobs and that's going to help some of our local businesses in this time of a difficult housing market.”
Video from today's news conference is available on the City's YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/fwpublicinformation