The state of Ohio is set to release $104.2 million — enough monies to demolish at least 4,168 homes statewide, and possibly 7,442 homes, if demolition costs remain at their current average. With the Cuyahoga County Land Bank slated to receive $31.26 million of the funds that will be disbursed through the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, a grand opportunity exists to get a lot more bang for the buck if officials can be convinced to take full advantage of it.
According to the news release, “The money was provided by the U.S. Treasury Department in February and April — $191 million altogether this year — from its Hardest Hit Fund, a recession-era housing program that Congress has extended through 2019. While the statewide sums available are not new, details of how and where the money will be distributed are. Cuyahoga County might be able to demolish more than 2,200 abandoned homes.”
While the demolition of blighted homes will certainly improve the quality of life in neighborhoods that are pockmarked with abandoned properties, the funds also should be used for employment training programs targeting the residents of these communities. The demolishing of houses and reseeding of the lots left behind is labor-intensive and could provide much needed entry-level employment for the youth of these neighborhoods. In reality, it’s only fair that residents of these communities where the monies will be spent benefit from it.
Indeed, Bob Deskins, the owner of Lightning Demolition (a company that no doubt will win some of the contracts to tear the houses down) has been lobbying anyone he could get to listen for years to assist him in setting up a training program for young men from disadvantaged neighborhoods. He has all of the equipment, space and know-how to prepare residents for careers in this dependable field. With this new funding stream becoming available someone should start listening to Deskins.
A recent article in USA Today noted that the burnishing of Cleveland’s image for the RNC is “…not a complete picture of the city, which still has some of the highest concentrations of poverty in the nation.” And one of the reasons for the crushing poverty has to do with how tax dollars that come into Cleveland are spent. These are federal dollars that everyone should benefit from, but if the past holds true, they will only benefit a certain segment of the population in terms of employment, and everyone knows who will generally be left out: Residents of the inner city where the homes are slated to be demolished.
The article accurately stated that “the city is riding a wave of good feeling, with the Cleveland Cavaliers capturing the first professional sports title for the city in half a century and the Cleveland Indians starting the second half of the baseball season in first place. But while boosting the city’s psyche, those victories have not changed some underlying economic challenges.”
Cleveland “is on parallel, almost paradoxical tracks,” said Cleveland State University professor Richey Piiparinen. “We are getting worse, and we are getting better.” He spoke about the vibrant growth in the downtown area and the close-in neighborhoods of Tremont and Ohio City, but also took note of the fact that the resurgence hasn’t been citywide. East side neighborhoods have seen little, if any, of the investment.
City Councilman Zach Reed said, “We are even paving alleys downtown, but you go back to our neighborhood, we might as well be on the damn moon.”
This new round of funding provides an opportunity to change how things are done in the city, especially in the field of construction/deconstruction. We can choose to embrace this new sense of energy that’s pervading Cleveland and Northeast Ohio and use it solve some of the problems of the most distressed neighborhoods, or we can continue to do business as usual. It will be interesting to see which road is taken.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.
7 Responses to “MANSFIELD: Help for the ’Hood”
Patricia Gray
Thank you Mansfield for sharing this information. Is there anything now in place for funds to be used to do work in inner city neighborhoods?
Gai Sparks
When will the home owners be made aware where and when we can obtain these funds to sort out the predatory mortgages? We need help with the loans that have astronomical high interest rates. Please help.
Andrew Cox
Well said Mansfield. I also like the idea of using some of the funds for youth employment and training, similar to a WPA program.
Mitchell D paul
1961 east 126 in little Italy at the end of a cute short dead end street off Mayfield is a good example of fraud at the Cuyahoga County land bank. Given /sold for 2500 $.. To coconspiritor sharon holtcamp. Rapidly sold after demolition for 110,000.
Other bids,immediate neighbors and neighborhood not consulted at all…
Proceeds could have demolished 10 structures but then their friend would not have made 100,000 $ monies actually stolen from.the public these thieves allegedly serve.
Good properties with value sold to for pittance to cronies…. Normal procedure.
Delitha Sparks
Please let me know when and where to apply for the program for predatory lending mortgages, and saving my home.
Peter Lawson Jones
“A Tale of Two Cities” to be sure. I sincerely hope that those who will be responsible for implementing the demolition program follow Mr. Deskins and your prescription.
Jay Westbrook
Mansfield raises very good points. The federal funding is truly an opportunity to remove much of the residential blight caused by decades of out migration and the scourge of the foreclosure crisis. In addition to demolition funds there will be limited funding for greening and restoration of vacant parcels. As a community we should build upon this one-time opportunity to gain added value by adding job training. The County Land Bank and certain contractors like Bob Deskins, Lightening Demolition, are open to making the most of these valuable funds. After the Ohio Republican Legislature shot down the Fannie Lewis Community Benefits program championed by Mayor Jackson, this limited opportunity to link job training with demolition and greening cracks open a new door.