For the last few years, the city of Peru has spent $150,000 to tear down seven dilapidated houses that had become eyesores in their neighborhoods.
But that’s only put a small dent in the number of homes the city would like to see go to the wrecking ball.
Building Commissioner Bruce Carson said the city would like to demolish around 80 abandoned houses, some of which have become targets for vandals and homes to wild animals such as raccoons, possums and snakes.
The city is set to take a huge step forward this year in eliminating unsightly and unsafe houses after receiving $813,000 from Indiana’s Hardest Hit Fund Blight Elimination Program.
The money was part of $12 million divvied out to smaller cities and sparsely populated counties in the state to tear down blighted homes.
Peru received the second highest allocation for a city, next to Logansport, which received $925,000.
Carson said, with the help of federal funding, the city will be able to demolish 40 to 45 dilapidated houses within the next 12 months, knocking its abandoned-homes list down by half.
“We’re thrilled,” he said. “With our city budget, it would take us at least six years to tear down 45 houses.”
And the sooner the homes can be demolished, the better, Carson said.
In the end, the real goal for tearing down abandoned houses is to stabilize the city’s property values and help prevent foreclosures for neighboring homeowners.
That’s a big problem not only for Peru, but for the entire state, which has the highest percentage of abandoned, foreclosed homes in the country.
RealtyTrac and 24/7 Wall Street, websites that track property values, have reported around 30 percent of Indiana’s foreclosed homes are abandoned.
“For a lot of people, it’s just a bad situation,” Carson said. “Somebody’s parents die or something and they inherit a house they can’t afford to take care of it. There’s not a lot you can do there.”
Tearing down blighted homes not only makes the city look better, but it also raises the property values for entire neighborhoods, he said.
“That’s the whole idea — trying to eliminate foreclosures as much as possible, and I think it will work,” Carson said.
Before any of that can happen, though, there’s a long process involved from the time each home is recommended for demolition to the time the wrecking ball arrives.
First, city officials must complete a three-page scoring sheet to determine how dilapidated a house really is.
The sheet takes into account factors such as the structural state of the property, if the utilities are still operational, how many emergency runs have been sent to the house and the presence of asbestos and lead paint.
One of the major factors determining if a home gets torn down is whether it at one time contained a meth lab, Carson said.
Once the city pegs a house for demolition, officials must hold a public hearing with the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. From there, the state checks the property to see if it has any historical significance.
After that, the city tracks down the owner to see if she or he is willing to sell. If yes, the closing process begins, crews start removing any hazardous materials and bids go out to demolition companies.
So far, the city has advertised 20 houses for demolition, with the public hearing on those properties set for April 28 at Peru City Hall.
Carson said the city will advertise the rest of the homes later this year.
The city has until March 2016 to tear down the houses, per requirements placed on the federal funding allocated by the state.
Carson said it’s an aggressive timeline to demolish up to 45 houses, but the city is on track to get it done.
“We’re going to have to hustle to get them all down, but I think we’ll do it,” he said.