Countys demolition efforts stalling

An excavator is on the verge of demolishing a house at the corner of Fourth Street and Hamilton Avenue in Lorain in March. CHRONICLE FILE

The wrecking ball is gathering dust.

Some 210 blighted vacant homes were demolished in Lorain County last year, but just 15 this year, according to Pat Metzger, assistant director of the county land bank and Lorain County Port Authority director. Frustrated county and local officials say new, more complicated rules in obtaining federal money have delayed demolitions, but theyre on schedule to obtain $3 million for knockdowns.

Demolishing blighted buildings as soon as possible is a top priority, officials say. Besides being magnets for arson, drug activity and vandalism, local communities often are forced to maintain the homes with taxpayers footing the bill.

Previously, cities could receive demolition money by condemning buildings. The money came from Moving Ohio Forward, a state program using federal money from a settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the six major big banks for their abusive and fraudulent mortgage practices that triggered the housing collapse, 2008 Great Recession and a foreclosure explosion that decimated neighborhoods nationally.

One in every 622 homes in Lorain County was in foreclosure in August, according to Realty Trac, a real estate website. The rate was significantly higher than the 1 in 840 Ohio rate or the 1 in 1,126 national rate.

A program named the Hardest Hit Fund is paying for the latest round of Ohio demolitions. The $3 million is from $60 million in demolition money from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, according to Doug Garver, executive director of the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, which is distributing the money.

But the land bank, officially known as the Lorain County Land Reutilization Corp., must first take title to the properties to be reimbursed for demolitions. The county submitted about 300 homes to the agency in January for demolition, Metzger said. The agency approved demolishing 120 in March and awarded $3 million to the county.

Under the program, the county will be reimbursed up to $25,000 per demolition. All properties must be blighted, and vacant for the county to be reimbursed.

The county has until March 31 to acquire title to 60 of the homes. All must be acquired by Sept. 30. All demolitions must be done by the end of September 2017. Last month, just two of the first 60 homes had been acquired, but Metzger said hes confident the deadlines will be met.

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Countys demolition efforts stalling