Valley’s $32.4 million application ‘does not demonstrate any experience with demolition’.
Evaluations from two U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees described the Mahoning Valley’s $32.4 million housing proposal as incomplete, unclear and flawed.
The nine-community proposal sought to use $7.9 million of the funding to demolish 1,603 structures. The application needed to demonstrate the Valley had demolished at least 75 units in the past two years.
Youngstown, alone, took down 200 houses in the second half of 2009.
But the application “does not demonstrate any experience with demolition,” a requirement to be considered for funding, according to a seven-page summary compiled by two unnamed HUD employees who reviewed it.
“The applicant does not expressly detail the number of demolished units over the past 24 months,” one evaluator wrote in the review. “With demolition such a significant portion of the application, this could be an issue.”
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