Indiana is expected to receive $83 million from the Housing and Economic Recovery Act passed in July. Fort Wayne will get $7 million of it to help communities clean up vacant and abandoned homes, many which are foreclosed property.
Mayor Tom Henry is already in the planning stages of how to use the HUD dollars and is implementing a neighborhood stabilization program.
“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 public has until November 24 to make any comments on the plan, which HUD will take into account as it doles out the funding.
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