We received some great news this week when the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) announced that it was awarding the Lucas County Land Bank an additional $2.3 million as part of its Neighborhood Initiative Program (NIP).  Since 2014, the Land Bank has received $11.5 million from NIP, which is the highest award per capita of any county in Ohio.

The funds will allow us to demolish an additional 230 vacant & blighted structures in some of our community’s most challenged neighborhoods.  This will bring the total number of demolitions under this program to 1,150, with the work needing to be completed by October 2017.

A link to a news release about the OHFA grant can be found here, and a story from WTVG-13ABC about the fight against blight can be viewed by clicking here.

The money is part of the $570.4 million the U.S. Department of the Treasury allocated to OHFA as part of the “Hardest Hit Fund” program.