JEFFERSON – More than $2 million in federal money to help Geauga and Ashtabula county communities clean up residential eyesores soon could be on its way to the Ashtabula County commissioners.
The commissioners voted Thursday to approve a joint cooperative agreement with Geauga County and the cities of Ashtabula and Conneaut for the Ohio Region 6 Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Ashtabula County will serve as the lead in Region 6.
The commissioners also voted to file an application to the Ohio Department of Development for $2.15 million in NSP funds.
Janice Switzer, program manager for Ashtabula County Recycling and Community Services, said the money must be used to address abandoned and foreclosed homes.
“This is not for homeowners who are in foreclosure,” Switzer said. “This is to help the cities deal with vacant and abandoned homes.”
The proposed budget allocates $810,000 to residential development, which would operate in a manner similar to the Community Housing Improvement Program. It would make down-payment money available to qualified buyers of distressed properties and provide money to rehabilitate those homes.
The bulk of the money, about $1.12 million, will be used to demolish blighted properties and establish land banks. The program provides for communities to purchase foreclosed homes at a discount and either rehabilitate or redevelop them in response to rising foreclosures and falling home values. The community has the option of banking the land if it has public value, such as to create a park or green space, or if such action would stabilize the neighborhood. This money also would be used to demolish properties that the community has no interest in owning, in which case liens would be placed against vacant lots, to recoup demolishing costs.
Switzer has held three meetings with representatives of Ashtabula, Conneaut, Geneva and interested villages to identify target areas in which to apply the money. She said they are looking at incidences of sheriff’s sales/ foreclosure notices, vacancy rates and median income levels to identify target areas.
“We looked at a lot of data to decide where the money will go,” she says.
Tentatively, Ashtabula City will receive $600,000 and Geauga County $420,000 under both programs. The balance, less administrative costs of $214,900, will be spread around the county. Switzer said Conneaut and Geneva would receive the bulk of the money, with Andover and Rock Creek and Ashtabula Township also looking for slices.
There’s no shortage of properties. Switzer said Ashtabula alone has identified more than 70 houses that need to come down. Conneaut has nearly three dozen. Another dozen in Ashtabula Township need to fall.
Geauga County has 27 homes, mostly in the Punderson Lake area, earmarked for the assistance.
Commissioners expect the money to come into the county in early April. Switzer says the government expects it to be spent quickly: 25 percent within six months and 75 percent within a year.
“It is going to move pretty fast for this type of project,” Switzer said.
The money could bring a much-needed shot of economic stimulus for area contractors, who will bid on the demolition projects or could pick up rehabilitation work from new homeowners buying the distressed houses.
Switzer said regulations for the program still are being developed. For example, at this point, they don’t know if properties that are banked would be eligible for acquisition by groups like Habitat for Humanity, which has shown an interest in some of the targeted properties in Ashtabula County.
Nationwide, $3.92 billion was allocated through NSP in October 2008. The money is coming through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.
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