Portman welcomes additional funding to address blighted properties

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) released the following statement Tuesday on the announcement from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) that 12 Ohio counties with established land banks were awarded a portion of $13 million in funding available through the fourth round of the Neighborhood Initiative Program (NIP).
 
“I am pleased that the Ohio Housing Finance Agency has provided an additional $13 million to Ohio land banks to help deal with the thousands of blighted homes that dot Main Streets throughout our state,” Portman said. “I authored the bill to allow these funds to be used for demolition and have seen firsthand the good work done by these county land banks to keep our streets safe and protect housing values.” 
 
Portman has long fought for the ability for Ohio communities to tap into additional funds to demolish vacant, blighted structures, which pose a growing threat to the public safety and economic well-being of our communities. In 2013, Portman introduced the Neighborhood Safety Act to allow states to use resources from the Hardest Hit Fund to tackle this problem. Ohio has over 80,000 vacant properties awaiting demolition, posing a significant risk to public safety and drastically decreasing the value of surrounding properties. Municipalities and local land banks have worked collaboratively to demolish vacant properties, but with municipal budgets already stretched, there is little money available.
 

[[In-content Ad]]Most recently, Portman successfully led the charge in July to protect these funds from being used to pay for other unrelated spending.
 
The 12 counties receiving an increase in funding through NIP are:
 
Ashtabula County Land Reutilization Corporation – $500,000;
Clark County Land Reutilization Corporation – $500,000;
Columbiana County Land Reutilization Corporation – $500,000;
Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation – $6,075,000;
Central Ohio Community Improvement Corporation (Franklin) – $500,000;
Hamilton County Land Reutilization Corporation – $500,000;
Lucas County Land Reutilization Corporation – $2,300,000;
Mahoning County Land Reutilization Corporation – $500,000;
Montgomery County Land Reutilization Corporation – $500,000;
Richland County Land Reutilization Corporation – $500,000;
Stark County Land Reutilization Corporation – $500,000;
Trumbull County Land Reutilization Corporation – $500,000.