Vacant/Abandoned Buildings in Columbus – News & Updates

[News]

Columbus Official Uses Out-Of-State Media To Call Out Absentee Landlords
Tuesday January 17, 2012 8:27 AM
UPDATED: Tuesday January 17, 2012 8:29 AM

Columbus City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer said that the city is scattered with abandoned properties and that many of the landlords live in different states. To catch the attention of out-of-state landlords, Pfeiffer said that he has started to notify the media in the property owner’s hometowns.

“What am I going to do in Columbus, Ohio? Get on a plane, go out there and bring them back here? I can’t do that,” Pfeiffer said. “But what I can do is say to the rest of the community they live in, ‘Hey, you have these folks in your community.'”

READ MORE: http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/01/17/columbus-absentee-landlords.html

[News]

A landlord responds
Posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012 3:20 pm | Updated: 3:22 pm, Thu Jan 19, 2012.
BY DEBBIE BRINER

Landlord Jack Powelson grew up in the Linden area. Generations of his family have owned businesses there and he’s rehabbed and rented neighborhood residences for a quarter-century. He’s eager to help tackle the problem of Linden’s glut of vacant, run-down homes. Yet Powelson has reached a gloomy conclusion: “You’re never going to turn Linden around,” he said. “You’re never going to do it.”

READ MORE: http://www.theotherpaper.com/news/article_1b667f1c-42db-11e1-9448-0019bb2963f4.html

[News]

Razing plans must be in gear to receive state funds
By Mark Ferenchik
The Columbus Dispatch
Tuesday February 14, 2012 5:32 AM

Communities might be asked to pledge matching money to receive a share of the $75 million that Ohio is setting aside to demolish thousands of vacant and abandoned houses. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced on Thursday that Ohio’s share of a $25 billion settlement with the nation’s five largest lenders is $335 million. The lenders were investigated for abusive foreclosure practices.

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/02/14/razing-plans-must-be-in-gear.html

[News]

County Setting Up Land Bank To Deal With Vacant Homes
By: TED HART | NBC4i.com
Published: February 17, 2012

Franklin County will establish a land bank that will allow the county to quickly receive control of vacant and tax delinquent properties. County officials will announce details of the plan Friday afternoon. The land bank will be funded with a portion of the county’s collections from delinquent taxes and gives the county new tools in addressing the persistent problem of vacant and abandoned properties.

READ MORE: http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2012/feb/17/2/county-setting-land-bank-deal-vacant-homes-ar-936274/

[News]

900 Abandoned Homes to be Demolished in Columbus
By: Walker

Mayor Michael B. Coleman kicked off a new initiative today to combat vacant housing in Columbus. The city has identified 900 of the 6,200 vacant homes in Columbus as dangerous and uninhabitable, and be razing the buildings over the next four years.

READ MORE: https://www.columbusunderground.com/900-abandoned-homes-to-be-demolished-in-columbus

[Anonymous]

My only hope is they demo just the shanty shingle style homes and try to maintain the homes with better architecture. I know they are few and far between in that area, but it would be sad to see those architectural homes go.

After that, the rest need leveled and the easiest way to clean up the area is with a blank slate. It also makes it a more appealing plot of land in the future since a developer or property owner doesn’t have to pay the expense of demoing an existing structure…obviously I’m talking WAY down the line.

[News]

Columbus plan to demolish homes worries residents
6:48 AM, Mar. 5, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTW) — Some Columbus residents are worried about the future of lots left empty by a plan to tear down 900 homes considered dangerous or uninhabitable. The city plans to spend more than $11 million on the demolition work. Mayor Michael Coleman says the houses are threatening the viability of neighborhoods.

READ MORE: http://www.coshoctontribune.com/usatoday/article/38726371?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFrontpage%7Cp

[Snarf]

Some valid commenters on the dispatch, wild!

Nice to see someone comment that the vacant homes are just a symptom of a larger problem, the culture.

I also think the slumlords are a huge drain on neighborhoods.

[News]

Neighbors fear effect of blight removal
By Mark Ferenchik
The Columbus Dispatch
Saturday March 10, 2012 7:02 AM

As Mayor Michael B. Coleman embarks on his campaign to demolish 900 vacant houses that he says threaten neighborhoods, some residents say they worry that some of the city’s history will disappear amid the rubble.

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/03/10/neighbors-fear-effect-of-blight-removal.html

[News]

128 ‘worst of the worst’ houses slated to be first to fall
By Mark Ferenchik
The Columbus Dispatch
Sunday May 6, 2012 6:14 AM

Columbus’ newly formed Vacant and Abandoned Properties team has identified the first batch of houses it wants to demolish by the end of the year.

As the team — made up of members of the city attorney’s office, code-enforcement and building and zoning services — plots its course, it is being watched carefully by Near East Side leaders who say they want the city to take its time in planning demolitions.The 128 houses the team identified are on Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s list of the 900 “worst of the worst” houses citywide.Some are fire-ravaged; others are beyond repair. And many houses are the detritus of the foreclosure crisis that scarred many Columbus neighborhoods.

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/05/06/128-worst-of-the-worst-houses-slated-to-be-first-to-fall.html

[leftovers]

It would be interesting to see that list.

[labi]

I read through the article about three times, thinking surely the list was in there or at least linked somewhere. I mean, if you’re going to read that article, isn’t the list the main thing you’d like to see? Frustrating, conspicuous absence of information.

[News]

List can be found here:

http://www2.nbc4i.com/special_section/idata/demolished/

[News]

Press Release:
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Franklin County Commissioners target 17 Abandoned Houses for Demolition, prevent Dragging Down of Home Values in Township Neighborhoods

Troubled by abandoned properties that concerned residents say have dragged down home values in several of their township neighborhoods, Franklin County Commissioners are targeting more than a dozen unsafe and unwanted houses for demolition – and this is only the beginning.

On Wednesday, County Commissioners joined in the first of a series of new federally-funded housing demolitions as part of Franklin County’s Township Nuisance Abatement Demolition Program, starting with a crime-magnet property in Mifflin Township.

The abandoned house at 2096 Minnesota Avenue has attracted several criminal incidents and unwelcome squatters in recent years, and according to township code enforcement officers, it has dramatically dragged down property values for nearby residents and kept officers busy because of safety concerns.

By month’s end, demolition crews will turn the property into open and safe green space.

Federal funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – and a partnership with the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) – will allow Franklin County to repeat this turnaround by demolishing a total of 17 abandoned houses this summer in Mifflin, Clinton, Franklin, Hamilton and Madison townships.

“Abandoned properties drag entire neighborhoods down. We want our children to be safe and families secure, and property values to be protected,” said Franklin County Commissioner President Paula Brooks. “That is why we are taking these actions to strengthen this Franklin County neighborhood. Our senior citizens deserve to see their homes retain their value as an added nest egg, too.”

“Because they affect so many other conditions, such as safety and home value, abandoned properties can unravel the quality of life in a neighborhood and dim the outlook of its residents,” said Commissioner Marilyn Brown, who also serves as board chair of MORPC. “Working closely with our partners in the townships and in our cities, MORPC and Franklin County are aggressively pursuing ways to remove these dangerous eyesores and help communities in rebuilding their housing markets in a positive and thoughtful manner.”

“Nothing signals neglect more than a street peppered with overgrown and abandoned houses. Not only are they health and safety hazards, these neglected properties destabilize the sense of neighborhood for anyone living close by,” added Commissioner John O’Grady. “These demolitions are just the start of stabilizing these township neighborhoods, restoring community pride, and convincing others to come in and reinvest.”

Franklin County is investing $320,000 in community development federal funding to demolish 17 buildings this year.

County Commissioners also play an active role in the new Franklin County Land Reutilization Corporation, appointing the majority of members to the board of this new land bank – which allows the County to quickly act on blighted, vacant, and tax-delinquent properties.

Franklin County’s land bank was recently awarded $8.2 million from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for the demolition of vacant and abandoned residential buildings. These grant funds – combined with demolition funds from the County and City of Columbus – will add up to approximately $16 million in countywide demolitions, which could lead to the removal of more than 1,200 blighted residential properties.

[News]

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