Attorney General DeWine Lauds Moving Ohio Forward Demolitions Around Ohio
YOUNGSTOWN, OH – August 23, 2012 – (RealEstateRama) — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today thanked local communities throughout the state that are beginning to take advantage of Moving Ohio Forward grants to demolish abandoned homes. DeWine gave his remarks at the demolition of one such property in Youngstown, where he was joined by Youngstown Mayor Charles Sammarone.
“I am very pleased by the fact that every county in the state responded to our call to take advantage of these demolition grants,” said Attorney General DeWine. “Local governments throughout Ohio, like Youngstown and Mahoning County, are actively taking back their communities from the rot and blight caused by abandoned houses.”
The Moving Ohio Forward Demolition Program helps stabilize and improve communities by removing blighted and abandoned homes with funds from the national mortgage settlement reached earlier this year. While an exact total of abandoned homes is not available, conservative estimates place the number of vacant and abandoned properties in Ohio in need of immediate demolition at 100,000.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office made $75 million from the settlement available statewide for Moving Ohio Forward demolition grants. In the Mahoning Valley, where DeWine attended the demolition today, Mahoning and Trumbull Counties received their full grant allocations of $1,531,680 and $1,275,797, respectively. Columbiana county applied for and received $500,000 of the $576,119 it was allocated.
DeWine stated that he would continue to travel to other demolition sites around Ohio to highlight the importance of this program and as other allocations are made in future grant periods.
“This program is not a cure all for residential blight. However, by smartly maximizing local resources with funds from the national foreclosure settlement, Moving Ohio Forward can help remedy a significant portion of the damage caused to Ohio neighborhoods and property owners by the foreclosure crisis,” said DeWine.
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