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$27 Million in Federal Funds Headed to Northeast Ohio Land Banks for Demolishing Abandoned Houses

An excavator tears down a Summit County farmhouse. (ideastream file photo by Brian Bull)
An excavator tears down a Summit County farmhouse. (ideastream file photo by Brian Bull)

The biggest chunk of that money is a $10.1 million grant going to the Cuyahoga County Land Bank. Other recipients include the city of Canton and land banks in Mahoning County, Summit County and elsewhere.

The money comes from the U.S. Treasury Department's Hardest Hit Fund. The fund was originally slated for preventing future foreclosures, but Ohio obtained special permission last year to use $60 million for bulldozing houses. This first round of demolition funding totaled more than $49.5 million.

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald pledged in his State of the County speech to put $50 million in county bonds toward demolitions, though county council hasn't yet debated or voted on the plan.

The full list of recipients is below, taken from an Ohio Housing Finance Agency news release.

Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation$10,118,750
Lucas County Land Reutilization Corporation$6,000,000
Central Ohio Community Improvement Corporation$5,825,000
The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority$5,065,000
Montgomery County Land Reutilization Corporation$5,055,000
Mahoning County Land Reutilization Corporation$4,266,250
City of Canton$4,235,000
Trumbull County Land Reutilization Corporation$3,221,250
Lorain County Port Authority$3,005,000
Summit County Land Reutilization Corporation$2,000,000
Richland County Land Reutilization Corporation$773,750
Nick Castele was a senior reporter covering politics and government for Ideastream Public Media. He worked as a reporter for Ideastream from 2012-2022.