Dive Brief:
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Some states are destroying nearly as many homes as they’re building.
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Foreclosed and abandoned homes, considered eyesores and blamed for higher crime and dwindling real estate prices in the neighborhoods where they stand, once were the focus of revitalization efforts. Now, tens of thousands of them are slated for demolition in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, CNN reported.
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"For the larger body—the neighborhood—to survive, you have to remove those cancer cells," Frank Ford, a policy adviser for the nonprofit Thriving Communities Institute of Cleveland, told CNN. His colleague Jim Rokakis added: “There's a direct relationship. If there are two bad houses on a block, people will move away and their houses go vacant. Take them down and people will stay."
Dive Insight:
Once earmarked for fixing up the blighted homes, money from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s $7.6 billion Hardest Hit Fund, available to the 18 U.S. states most affected by the housing crisis, is paying for the demolition. Counties are kicking in additional funding as the newly vacant lots are converted to green spaces, often maintained by the neighborhoods.