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Press Release wrote
Mayor and Council join Franklinton residents for double demolition and to tour newly-rehabbed Home Again properties in Franklinton
(Columbus) Franklinton resident Carol Stewart lived beside two blighted properties for years, but today something changed. Carol stood with Mayor Michael B. Coleman and Councilmembers Charleta B. Tavares and Hearchel F. Craig as the City began tearing down the houses through the City’s Home Again program.
“Carol Stewart, her neighbors and families all over Columbus deserve better than to live beside these blighted, abandoned houses,” said Mayor Coleman. “We’re beginning to make a difference – house by house on this street and throughout the community with the Home Again program. We’re using every power we have under the law to take down blights, hold private owners accountable and turn abandoned properties into new homes for families.”
The demolitions of 180 and 192 Princeton Avenue kicked off a morning tour of Home Again activity in Franklinton for residents and housing advocates that included a visit to newly rehabbed homes on Martin Avenue. Last June, Mayor Coleman kicked off a $25 million Home Again initiative as a five-part strategy to fix up or tear down and replace 1,000 of the estimated 4,475 vacant properties citywide.
“The Franklinton Community is very pleased with the lovely appearance of these Home Again sites on Martin Avenue, and are very happy that so many have already been sold or are in contract to people who want to live in Franklinton. We look forward to the first new Home Again home to be built on South Princeton Avenue,” said Carol Stewart, a Franklinton resident and Area Commissioner.
Since June 2006, Code Enforcement and Building Inspectors have referred nearly 500 cases of blighted and neglected properties to City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer’s Office.
“Since the Mayor announced Home Again last year, the City Attorney’s office has opened 280 cases dealing specifically with the worst vacant and abandoned houses in the City,” said City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer, Jr. “We have worked aggressively through the court system, with the support of Council and the Mayor, to hold the owners of these properties that drag down our neighborhoods accountable. We, and more importantly, the neighbors of these houses are starting to see real results with owners rehabbing properties because they realize they must take care of the properties they own in the City of Columbus.”
The Mayor and residents also toured 154 Martin Avenue, a former drug house, which was rehabilitated over the past year as part of Home Again’s partnership with the Columbus Franklin County Affordable Housing Trust (CFCAHT), Greater Columbus Habitat for Humanity and Columbus Housing Partnership plan. The partners also fixed up 158-160, 115, 133,147 Martin Avenue, and are currently selling the properties.
In 2007, the Home Again program plans to:
· Acquire and rehab 25 properties (14 properties now underway)
· ACA rehabs: 60 (starting with City contract with CHP for $750,000 to rehab 23 properties across the City)
· Build 4 new houses on lots with Habitat for Humanity
· Build new houses on 15 city-owned lots
· Help 115 residents stay in they homes with emergency roof repairs (20 already completed and 14 currently under construction)
· Help demolish 60 vacant and blighted properties
“The Home Again program is no just rebuilding neighborhoods, the program is rebuilding lives,” said Health, Housing & Human Services Committee Chair Charleta B. Tavares. “Removing a problem home from a neighborhood not only makes the area safer, it also restores the esteem of the residents who live near the cleaned-up property.”
In 2006, Home Again was responsible for initiating 105 roof repair cases; 96 completed at a cost of $1,355,833. The City demolished 27 properties at a cost of $117,112 and another 52 were demolished by private owners.
Comments
- cheap: i highly recommend the Millersport sweet corn festival of course,the cor
- Jimmy Mak: Thanks for the write-up! Just to clarify - this is the third year we've do
- Briana Henry: Well, eventually they plan to add more bands from the region...gotta start
- bucki12: I like the business model, but the internet sales part seems like something
- racheltb: I don't see the Ohio Shrimp Fest on the list. It is truly a good time. h
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Home Again initiative – Updates
By: Walker
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Did anyone out there join the tour along with M. Coleman and the Franklinton residents?
i didn’t join the mayor, my bullet proof vest is in the drycleaners. 2 houses down, 1000 more to go. i just hope the pace picks up. i would sincerely like to see franklinton make a turn for the better. it is a part of the 315 tech corridor. if they ever get momentum there, along with a proposed transit station, it would really help. fill in all of those parking lots around cosi with high tech jobs. there is enough room between the river and the tracks to build an entire dense urban neighborhood. is flood insurance really that high.
Flood insurance is no longer required of most home owners and businesses in Franklinton. In areas near the river in a few specific locations it may still be required, but thanks to the floodwall, it’s much less than it was a few years ago. My flood insurance 7 years ago was more than my other home insurance policies.
After sitting vacant and abandoned for several years, the house at 612 Gilbert Street is being demolished by the City of Columbus and the Home Again initiative. Deemed too damaged to be saved because of a crumbling foundation and damage from thieves who stripped all of the home’s copper plumbing, it was torn down by Mayor Michael B. Coleman, City Councilmember Charleta B. Tavares and area residents to make way for a new home.
“The national housing crisis does not mean we stop building homes, building neighborhoods and fixing up homes for families,†said Mayor Coleman. “Columbus is growing, and we need to clear out the blight to let neighborhoods thrive again. We’re using every legal option to take down vacant homes that can’t be saved, to hold private owners accountable and to turn abandoned properties into new homes for people who will care for them.â€Â
In June 2006, Mayor Coleman kicked off the $25 million Home Again initiative as a five-part strategy to fix up or tear down and replace 1,000 of the estimated 4,400 vacant properties citywide.
“The Home Again program is allowing more Columbus residents to live the American Dream without creating a financial nightmare,†said Charleta B. Tavares, chair of the Health, Housing & Human Services Committee. “These rehabilitated properties provide hope for a brighter future in neighborhoods that were once dark with despair.â€Â
Today, the Mayor and residents also toured 613 Gilbert Street, just across the street from the demolished home, where a former drug house is being rehabilitated as part of Home Again’s partnership with the Columbus Franklin County Affordable Housing Trust (CFCAHT), Greater Columbus Habitat for Humanity and Columbus Housing Partnership. The partners plan to rehab or build 20 new homes in the area where major revitalization is currently underway tied to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
In 2008, the Home Again program plans to:
- Build and rehab 50 properties
- Help demolish 90 vacant and blighted properties
- Help 84 residents stay in they homes with emergency roof repairs
- Refer 220 nuisance cases to the City Attorney’s Office for legal action
In 2007, Home Again was responsible for initiating 84 roof repair cases; demolished 27 properties and another 86 were demolished by the City and private owners. To date, 600 properties have been impacted at a cost of $10,000,000 through Home Again.
home again has really done some amazing work here in franklinton. really nice finishs and detail work. maybe one of these days i will take some pics of the homes and post them.