Several weeks ago, the Obama administration and over 40 states throughout the U.S. reached a settlement with five of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders regarding various lending practices harmfully employed in recent years. Of the estimated $25 billion mortgage lenders will pay under the settlement, Ohio will receive approximately $335 million, with about $97 million going to the office of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. Of that, $75 million will be used to assist communities throughout Ohio in tearing down rundown and/or abandoned structures that are contributing to the blight in a number of neighborhoods as a result of the tough economic times the U.S. has been facing the last several years.
Currently, the attorney general’s office is in the process of structuring the program parameters, but aims to have a portion of these dollars in action for the summer demolition season. Communities will need to formally apply for the funds, and will likely have to provide a yet to be determined percentage of local matching funding to gain access to these dollars.
Although these funds will not resolve all of the blight problems facing a number of Ohio communities, from an economic development perspective, they can serve as a catalyst to jumpstart a number of local-level economic development initiatives, creating a unique opportunity for communities, CIC’s, land banks, and port authorities throughout Ohio to leverage the funding source to help create public-private partnerships to spur long awaited community and economic development plans. For more information, please click here or visit the attorney general’s website.
