Indiana Demolishes First Home In Blight Elimination Effort

State officials Monday tore down a home on Indianapolis’ near east side as part of a program aimed at eliminating blighted properties.

The home was the first property of an estimated 4,000 across the state that will be demolished under Indiana’s Hardest Hit Fund Blight Elimination Program.

Money for the program comes from the U.S. Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund, which was created to provide struggling homeowners mortgage support after the 2008 housing collapse.

The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, or IHCDA, announced last year it had received federal approval to use $75 million of its $224 million Hardest Hit allocation for blight elimination.

“We know that these properties depress home values. They discourage other home improvement efforts and, in some cases, they harbor vagrants and criminal activity,” Lieutenant Governor Sue Ellspermann says.

State officials also argue that cleaning up blight helps insulate homeowners from future housing crises.

“In the future, if the homeowners in those neighborhoods encounter financial difficulties, they’re going to be in a much better position to work those out with their lenders because their property values are stable,” Mark Neyland, Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority director of asset preservation, says.

So far, $38 millon has been awarded to 24 communities through four rounds of funding announcements, including $6.4 million to Indianapolis.