Plan includes attack on vacant Indianapolis houses 7.26.10

The Chicago Tribune

City officials are working on plans that could quadruple the number of abandoned homes that it will target for demolition or rehabilitation projects.

The money would come from the $450 million that Mayor Greg Ballard expects the city to receive from its proposed sale of the water and sewer utilities to Citizens Energy Group.

A review is under way on proposals from companies interested in overseeing work on 2,000 to 4,500 unsafe homes during the next two years, said Kristen Tusing, the city's director of enterprise development.

"We're not going to knock them all down. That's not the answer. Many are in good shape," Tusing told the Indianapolis Business Journal. "But what can we do so the dent becomes a little bigger? There are 2,000 (truly unsafe abandoned homes) that we know of. We think there's another 2,500. Those are the worst of the worst."

Indianapolis officials estimate about 12,000 houses are vacant across the city. More than 600 houses are expected to be demolished this year after being deemed unsafe and unsalvageable.

The firm selected will assist the city with identifying which homes have been abandoned, judging whether they could be rehabilitated and resold, and overseeing demolition work.

Tusing expects a company to be selected this fall and work on the initiative to start in January.

The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority estimates the cost of demolishing an abandoned house at $5,000 to $10,000 versus $45,000 to $85,000 for an average rehabilitation.

A City-County Council committee voted 7-4 to endorse the $1.9 billion utilities sale, which includes Citizens Energy taking over about $1.5 billion in debt obligations. The proposal is awaiting a vote by the full council.

The Ballard administration has increased its abandoned home efforts using $29 million in federal stimulus money the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provided, said John Hall, director of HUD's Indianapolis field office.

That amount of money "won't do it all for Indianapolis," Hall said. "It will go faster and cover a wider net if there are partners involved."
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