Local Counties Share in Ohio Demolition Grants
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- More than $3.8 million in additional demolition grants has been awarded to 87 Ohio counties including Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana, Attorney General Mike DeWine announces.
Columbiana County will receive $27,823, Mahoning County $76,504, and Trumbull County $63,468.
The additional grants were a reallocation of unrequested funds from DeWine’s office Moving Ohio Forward Program.
The state program "has been successful in helping the many Ohioans who were victims of neighborhood blight caused by the foreclosure crisis,” said DeWine in a prepared statement. “By demolishing abandoned, blighted homes, we have been making a real effort to help stabilize neighborhoods and remove public safety hazards.”
DeWine designated $75 million of Ohio's settlement share for the demolition program, allocating funds to each county based upon the percentage of foreclosures that occurred in that county between 2008 and 2010, the period of the settlement.
In Phase One of the grants, counties were required to provide matching funds for any grant that exceeded $500,000. However, several counties did not apply for their full allocation, leaving $3,820,826 in unrequested funds.
For Phase Two grants, DeWine has reallocated the unrequested funds based on the same formula as the original allocations, with each county receiving a minimum of $7,800 for the demolition of at least one more blighted structure.
Counties have until Sept. 30 to spend the Phase Two grant funds, and no matching funds will be required. Counties have until May 31 to use the Phase One grant funds.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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