Indianapolis – Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann Thursday announced two rounds of awards from Indiana’s Hardest Hit Fund Blight Elimination Program (BEP). The 23 successful Indiana applicants from Divisions Five and Six received a combined total of nearly $12 million to help prevent avoidable foreclosures by eliminating blighted and abandoned homes in those communities through the BEP.
There were 11 successful Division Six applicants received awards totaling $3.7 million. The only local award was in Starke County where the City of Knox received $187,000.
“The cities and towns receiving nearly $12 million in BEP funds for Divisions Five and Six will be able to demolish over 550 blighted properties, which will stabilize property values and help prevent foreclosures for neighboring homeowners,” said Lt. Governor Ellspermann. “The recipients, with the help of their program partners, will be able to provide much needed revitalization in their communities.”
These local governments and their non-profit partners are the successful applicants in the fifth and sixth rounds of the BEP. The BEP provides an opportunity for local units of government in all 92 Indiana counties to compete for a total of $75 million available for blight elimination funding to prevent avoidable foreclosures through the removal of blighted, vacant and abandoned homes.
“Cities across Indiana have been struggling with the damaging effects caused by vacant and blighted properties and will soon see the benefits of these federal funds,” said Sarah Bloom Raskin, Treasury Deputy Secretary. “Removing blighted properties is important in the fight to reduce foreclosures and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the State of Indiana to help stabilize hardest hit communities.”
The BEP funds are drawn from the $221.7 million in Hardest Hit Funds allocated to Indiana. In February 2014, the U.S. Department of the Treasury approved the use of $75 million of Indiana’s Hardest Hit Funds by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) for successful BEP applicants. The partnership between IHCDA and Treasury allows for funding to eliminate blighted properties and offers a variety of end uses for the newly cleared parcels, such as green space or redevelopment.
