Stark County is eligible to receive $2.3 million to help demolish abandoned and blighted homes.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Friday announced each county’s share of the $75 million the state received from the national mortgage settlement reached earlier this year with the nation’s largest mortgage companies over foreclosure abuses, fraud and deceptive mortgage practices.
DeWine said in a news release that the allocations are based on the percentage of foreclosure filings in each county between 2008 and 2011. The grants will be awarded on Aug. 1 and the counties must complete the demolition work by Dec. 31, 2013. Unused funds will then be reallocated.
Stark County, the state’s seventh largest county, will receive the eighth largest pot of money. Cuyahoga County is eligible to receive the largest share at $11.85 million.
Officials with the recently formed Stark County Land Reutilization Committee, or county land bank, already have discussed partnering with Canton city officials to submit an application. Applicants must provide a dollar-for-dollar match for any request above $500,000.
Estimates show that roughly 100,000 vacant and abandoned properties in Ohio need to be demolished, according to DeWine’s release.