Cleveland Heights Among Suburbs to Receive Money to Raze Blighted Homes

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason announced Aug. 1 that Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights received $100,000 each to demolish blighted properties, and are part of a group of 12 cities that received a total of $1 million. 

On June 7, the prosecutor's office announced it was devoting $5 million to help raze dilapidated homes.

East Cleveland and Cleveland received $1 million apiece, and another $1 million was divided between 12 cities.  Each community received between $50,000 and $100,000 to use for demolition.

Nicole DiSanto, public information coordinator for the prosecutor's office, said cities sent applications for a share of the pot. Those applications were reviewed by a committee that included members of the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation (Land Bank,) the prosecutor's office and suburban communities. 

The Land Bank also committed $6.8 million for demolition efforts. Attorney General Mike DeWine's office is matching that combined $11.8 million from the prosecutor's office and the Land Bank, and the money will be made available to the Land Bank. East Cleveland and Cleveland will eventually get $1 million more each, DiSanto said.

Cleveland Heights Mayor Ed Kelley said the city might use the money to demolish properties in the north Coventry area.

Demolitions cost on average $8,000 to $10,000, he said.

“We’re very happy and thankful to Mr. Mason for helping us do this,” Kelley said.

Kamla Lewis, director of neighborhood revitalization for the city of Shaker Heights, said the houses in the city cost on average $15,000 to demolish. The city hasn’t targeted an area yet.

“The cities are very, very grateful to Prosecutor Mason for understanding the importance of having demolition funding available to communities so that they can remove these blighting influences in a timely manner, and ensure it is not depressing the property value of the surrounding homes,” Lewis said.

Ten other cities received the following amounts for demolition efforts:

• Euclid: $100,000
• Garfield Heights: $100,000
• Lakewood: $50,000
• North Olmsted: $50,000
• North Royalton: $50,000
• Parma: $100,000
• Parma Heights: $90,000
• South Euclid: $100,000
• Village of Newburgh Heights: $100,000
• Warrensville Heights: $70,000