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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Genesee County Land Bank asks for $25 million in demolition funds out of the available $100 million
Sarah Schuch | sschuch@mlive.com By Sarah Schuch | sschuch@mlive.com
on August 06, 2013 at 7:30 AM, updated August 06, 2013 at 8:54 AM
GENESEE COUNTY, MI – Genesee County Land Bank officials are asking for $25 million in federal funds in order to demolish more than 2,000 blighted homes.
An application sent to the Michigan State Housing Development Authority Aug. 2 asks for a quarter of the $100 million available funds for five Michigan cities -- Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Pontiac and Saginaw.
If approved, it would be the largest amount of funds awarded at one time for demolition in the Flint area, said Doug Weiland, executive director of the Genesee County Land Bank.
The application calls for 1,915 homes in the city of Flint to be demolished, as well as another 154 spread across Burton, Genesee Township, Flint Township and Mt. Morris and Mt. Morris Township.
"This is very significant. This is a really big deal," Weiland said. "The $25 million gets us to probably 40 to 50 percent of all the demos that need to get done in the city of Flint. ... This is the first time we've ever seen this level of funding come in to this city for demolition."
In June, Michigan won approval to spend $100 million in federal funds to demolish thousands of vacant homes in the five cities.
The U.S. Treasury on June 6 signed off on a proposal -- the first of its kind in the nation – that allowed MSHDA to create a blight elimination program using federal money originally set aside for mortgage relief.
ALSO READ: Six things to know about Flint and the $100 million in federal demolition funds
As of Monday, Aug. 5 all applications had been received by MSHDA. The proposals will be reviewed by a team, which is scheduled to meet on Aug. 12. Decisions on how much funds each city will get will be made by no later than Aug. 15.
"The team of public and private officials will review the proposals to ensure that each community is targeting neighborhoods and properties that align with Hardest Hit program goals, that there is adequate local support and capacity, and that any barriers to achieving proposed timelines have been addressed," said Michele Wildman, MSHDA's blight expert and special assistant for program development, in an email.
Once demolition begins, the proposal shows a timeline of completion within 18 months. Each batch of 100 to 200 houses should take 17 weeks to complete.
Since Flint has about 25 percent of the blighted houses within the five cities, Weiland is confident they will be approved for the $25 million.
The blighted homes, which are all owned by public entities, are broken into five areas – tipping point neighborhoods, re-investment neighborhoods, buffer areas, key corridors and those houses around Carpenter Road Elementary.
There are 365 houses targeted for demolition by key corridor areas in the north central portion of Flint. The key corridors include areas along North Saginaw Street, East Pierson Road and Martin Luther King Avenue.
Near the center of the city and expanding out our re-investment neighborhoods with 70 houses slated for demolition. Re-investment neighborhoods are neighborhoods near schools with recent investments in new or renovated housing through the Federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
On the edges of the city are tipping point neighborhoods – which have less than 20 percent vacancy rates – with 370 houses proposed for demolition. These neighborhoods have some of the more stable neighborhoods in the area immediately surrounding the city of Flint that have recently experienced an increase in vacancy and foreclosure.
Geneesee County demolitions.jpgThe map shows the areas outside of the city of Flint which have blighted houses targeted for demolition. The targeted areas are shaded.Courtesy Map from Genesee County Land Bank
And then there are 1,079 houses in buffer areas, which are areas surrounding re-investment and tipping point neighborhoods. They include neighborhoods with higher vacancy rates than its adjacent target areas. Demolition in these areas will help to stem the spread of blight into tipping point and re-investment neighborhoods, according to the proposal.
For a PDF of the maps of houses proposed for demolition, click here: Genesee County Hardest Hit Fund Demolitions.pdf
"We've been working on this for weeks. There's a lot of work that went into it, including a lot of personal inspections of properties, looking at properties that were evaluated at structurally deficient," Weiland said. "We know there's about 4,000 properties that we have that were blighted and could be demolished, so we had to narrow down."
The $25 million would cover environmental inspections, removal of hazardous material, demolition, landfill cost, topsoil and seeding of the properties, along with administrative costs, bidding and the cost of paperwork
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Flint Emergency Manager Michael Brown said this is a significant step forward in the fight against blight in the city. To have this much in fund dollars at one time in unprecedented, he said.
"This is a tremendous opportunity for Flint. It's important that we partner with the land bank to deal with this correctly," Brown said.
The funds will make a big dent in the blighted homes, dealing with roughly 40 percent of the problem, Brown said. The city also recently received $235,000 in grant money from the Mott Foundation, which would include eight neighborhood safety officers and a coordinator to begin strict code enforcement for non-structural blight.
The officers would begin ticketing and enforcing issues such as abandoned vehicles, trash clean up and illegal trash dumping, Brown said.
"It just kind of fit together perfectly," he said. "There's an opportunity to have a significant impact." |
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Tue Aug 06, 2013 2:06 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Michigan approved for $100 million in federal funding to demolish blighted homes in 5 cities
Jonathan Oosting | joosting@mlive.com By Jonathan Oosting | joosting@mlive.com
Follow on Twitter
on June 06, 2013 at 4:27 PM, updated June 06, 2013 at 7:17 PM
First bill proposed by Congressman Dan Kildee would help Flint, other cities eliminate blight
U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee touts his demolition bill at Flint abandoned motel
More than 40 properties, including popular taco shop, eyed for demolition in Grand Rapids
LANSING, MI -- Michigan has won approval to spend $100 million in federal funds to demolish thousands of vacant homes in Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Pontiac and Saginaw.
The U.S. Treasury on Thursday signed off on a proposal -- the first of its kind in the nation -- that will allow the Michigan State Housing Development Authority to create a blight elimination program using federal money originally set aside for mortgage relief.
"We will be stabilizing neighborhoods with a large-scale demolition of the abandoned properties that foster crime and push down property values," Gov. Rick Snyder said a released statement, calling the new program part of a broader effort to fight blight. "Getting rid of these properties will encourage more people to stay in their homes and be part of the effort to improve their neighborhoods."
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal S. Wolin said the money will be made available through the Hardest Hit Fund, an offshoot of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) established in 2010 to help homeowners avoid foreclosure in states hit hardest by the Great Recession.
To date, Michigan has been awarded nearly $500 million in Hardest Hit funding but has spent less than $100 million on forgivable loans and other programs to help struggling homeowners. Nationally, qualifying states have spent roughly a quarter of the $7.6 billion they have received. Funds must be used by 2017.
U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, spent the past few months urging Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to broaden the parameters of the Hardest Hit program by allowing funds to be used for demolition. Through a letter, legislation and committee statements, he made the case that that eliminating blight can also help reduce foreclosures by stabilizing surrounding property values.
"We've proven this," Kildee said, describing his own work running the state's first land bank in Genesee County. "We have great data that shows there is absolutely a connection between the presence of abandoned properties and the value of surrounding properties. Many of the foreclosures we're seeing now are a result of homeowners owing much more money than their property is worth, struggling to make mortgage payments and chasing equity that does not exist."
According to 2010 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 40,000 vacant residential units in Detroit, close to 6,000 in Flint and near 3,000 in Grand Rapids.
Mayor Dave Bing has pledged to tear down 10,000 structures in Detroit by the end of 2013 and said today that the effort is on track. Flint Mayor Dayne Walling has said his city has a $50-million demolition problem and needs additional assistance.
The MSHDA proposal called for partnering with community organizations in order to identify and demolish blighted homes -- not commercial structures -- that have been declared a public nuisance or otherwise deemed unfit for habitation.
The pilot program, which could begin as soon as this summer, would provide those partners with up to $25,000 to purchase a property, raze the vacant home and maintain the land for five years. Using that formula, the state could clear at least 4,000 properties, but the MSHDA projected savings that will allow it to exceed that number.
The Detroit Blight Authority, a nonprofit founded by Bill Pulte of Pulte Capital Partners, earlier this year quickly and quietly cleared 10 blocks of blight in 10 days using a streamlined process that resulted in a cost of less than $5,000 per home.
"We know that with the right management and strategy, these funds will absolutely change the landscape and financial condition of Detroit," Pulte said today. "We hope to receive a portion of this funding quickly, as it could be the first step in implementing our vision of a blight-free Detroit."
Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter. |
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Tue Aug 06, 2013 2:19 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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There are Flint Landlords that are willing to give Flint property away, like Terry Hanson has. This $25,000 to purchase , raze and maintain for 5 years looks like there is a slush fund element built in to the plan. I am assuming most of these properties are already owned by the land bank.
Flint Journal reader 48162 cited a demolition price of $12,500 per unit. Since the city was able to demo under $6,800, I wonder where this cost came from. |
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Tue Aug 06, 2013 2:24 pm |
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