NEWS: (TERRE HAUTE, Ind.) The City of Terre Haute, Ind., and its program partner, the Terre Haute Department of Redevelopment, have approved 27 vacant/blighted residential properties for demolition through Round Two of Indiana’s Blight Elimination Program (BEP).
The Department of Redevelopment has already completed the acquisition and demolition of approximately 30 residential structures with funds awarded to the city by the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority (IHCDA)’s Blight Elimination Program. The program, funded by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund, aims to revitalize neighborhoods in cities across the state.
Successful Round One and Round Two BEP applications prepared by the Terre Haute Department of Redevelopment have provided the city with approximately $2 million of additional funding sources to address the removal of vacant/blighted residential structures.
“The Blight Elimination Program has greatly benefited the community by providing significant funding to demolish condemned homes that create both a potentially unsafe and unsightly environment in our city,” said Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett.
According to the Department of Redevelopment, all 26 properties from the city’s Round One BEP award have been demolished, and significant funds remain to apply to additional properties. The Department anticipates that an additional 40 to 50 residential structures will be demolished throughout the life of the BEP program.
Phil Kesner, Grants and Planning Administrator for the Terre Haute Department of Redevelopment, said, “The Blight Elimination Program has helped the city stabilize and revitalize central neighborhoods, raising property values or at least stabilizing property values in neighborhoods, thus encouraging future investment.”
On September 4, 2015, former Indiana Lieutenant Governor Sue Ellspermann recognized the City of Terre Haute’s accomplishments under the BEP program as among the best in Indiana.
More information: http://terrehaute.in.gov/.
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