October 20, 2011 [Freshwater]
In a Washington Post article titled “Banks turn to demolition of foreclosed properties to ease housing-market pressures,” Brady Dennis reports that Cuyahoga County’s aggressive land bank is serving as a model for other regions nationwide.
“The sight of excavators tearing down vacant buildings has become common in this foreclosure-ravaged city, where the housing crisis hit early and hard,” he writes. “But the story behind the recent wave of demolitions is novel — and cities around the country are taking notice.”
Thanks to an ongoing collaboration with banking representatives, the land bank continues to secure abandoned or blighted properties to demolish for community gardens and other uses. Cuyahoga land bank expects to complete roughly 700 demolitions by the end of the year. In return for tax deductions and other expenses in maintaining the properties, banks are pitching in as much as $7,500 per demolition.