In mid-February, Attorney General Mike DeWine announced that he is committing $75 million of the money awarded to Ohio as part of the 49 state settlement agreement with the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders to demolition of vacant and blighted structures. At that time, the Attorney General stipulated that organizations able to take on the workload and able to capitalize on these funds through a match would be most likely to receive funding to address demolition in their communities.
Understanding this, the Cuyahoga Land Bank, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor and the City of Cleveland came together to determine what they could do to help guarantee that Cuyahoga County receives a substantial portion of this much-needed demolition funding in order to help address the large number of vacant, abandoned properties waiting to be demolished in our community.
The Cuyahoga Land Bank, which recently completed is 750th demolition since opening in 2009 and which is on track to demolish another 700 blighted properties in 2012 alone, is committing $5 million this year and into next year toward demolition.
Furthermore, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor has committed $5 million in DTAC funding toward demolition efforts, designating $1 million of that funding specifically for demolition in the City of Cleveland.
Additionally, The City of Cleveland, which demolished over 5,000 properties since 2005, will pitch in another $4 million for the purpose of demolition.
The partners are asking the Attorney General to match this $14 million total in order to assist with countywide demolition efforts.