ANDERSON — The worst-of-the-worst abandoned and uninhabitable residential houses in Anderson, Alexandria and Elwood will soon start tumbling down, say officials in all three cities.
Demolition of the houses is being made possible through a federal loan initiative administered by the state called the Blight Elimination Program.
Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann announced the awards this week. Anderson will receive $1.4 million, Alexandria $355,000, and Elwood $625,000 to eliminate blighted, vacant and abandoned homes.
Coatsville, in Hendricks County, also received awards as did Evansville, Muncie, Terre Haute and Elkhart County.
The goals of the program include reducing foreclosures and stabilizing property values.
"I am delighted the Blight Elimination program will spur revitalization efforts across the broad range of cities and areas throughout the six counties receiving awards in Division 3," Ellspermann said in a statement.
Elected and economic development officials in all three communities are acutely aware of the problems caused by blight, but have been stymied in their efforts to attack the problem in any significant way because money hasn't been available.
The cost of demolishing these buildings can run from $10,000 to $40,000, depending on the amount of work required to make a property pristine.
Greg Winkler, Anderson's director of economic development, said the city plans to demolish between 70 and 76 houses around the city. He credited Community Development Administrator Tonya Turnley with working to compile "scoring" information from multiple city agencies as part of the application process and meet a tight June deadline to qualify for funding.
"Our goal is to get these properties back on the tax rolls and be productive and remove that blight from the neighborhood," Winkler said.
While he doesn't have an accurate count of the uninhabitable houses in Anderson, "it's safe to say that number is a lot more than 70 houses," Winkler said.
Elwood Mayor Ron Arnold said city officials identified about 400 abandoned properties when he ordered an inventory shortly after talking office in 2012.
"We're going to be able to eliminate a major chunk of our blighted properties with this money," the mayor said. "Our priority is that they become the property of adjacent landowners to make improvements, or sell them to others so that houses can be built."
Turnley said communities receiving the money must work with non-profit partners to eliminate blighted parcels. Anderson, for example, is working with St. Vincent Regional Hospital Anderson and the Anderson Redevelopment Commission.
Once the properties are cleared, she said, they can be offered to adjacent property owners, become community gardens, redeveloped through Habitat for Humanity, or sold to private entities.
"We're very happy to get this money," said Alexandria Mayor Jack Woods, who hopes to clear 20 properties around the city. "We're going to clean up some sites and put this money to good use."
The federal money is administered by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, which estimates that 4,000 abandoned homes in Indiana will be eliminated using the Blight Elimination Program.