Reducing government spending, discussions about how the state, county and local governments have been forced to deal with less revenue, and the growth potential of hydraulic fracturing or fracking were among the dominant topics Monday at the 17th annual Legislative… Read more ›
State and local officials might have another solution to help with the problems of neighborhood blight, thanks to a multi-state settlement with mortgage-servicing companies. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine spoke Friday with city and county officials at stops in Zanesville… Read more ›
It was a giant demolition project-a 25-unit apartment building, costing nearly 18 times more than a single-residence demolition-but the Cuyahoga Land Bank was up for the challenge. The opportunity came about through a Memorandum of Understanding between the Cuyahoga Land… Read more ›
The Ohio Attorney General’s (AG) office, which recently received $75 million in federal funding from a national mortgage settlement, will soon distribute the funds to individual counties to help demolish abandoned and condemned houses, according to AG spokesman Dan Tierney.… Read more ›
Sister Anne Maline, Director of Metro Catholic School in Cleveland, used to gaze at the property adjacent to the school and dream of a garden to provide fitness opportunities and green space for her students. Instead, she had to look… Read more ›
Funds meant to help struggling families in Cleveland are instead being used to knock down vacant and dilapidated homes left in the wake of the foreclosure crisis that ravaged this midwestern city. Over the past five years, Cleveland has spent… Read more ›
A multimillion-dollar plan to revitalize Franklin County neighborhoods by tearing down or rehabbing dilapidated structures is expected to launch next week. The three commissioners said they will approve the first countywide land bank, which will seize vacant homes that are… Read more ›
Since its earliest days, the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation, commonly known as the Cuyahoga Land Bank, has targeted properties whose demolition or rehabilitation would make the biggest impact on the neighborhoods in which the properties are located. That strategy… Read more ›
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Money that Cleveland and its suburbs could get from the state for demolition would help, but proposed federal assistance would take cleanup of the housing market even further, former Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis says. Rokakis now heads… Read more ›
Wisconsin (STOWI1) plans to use part of its $140 million share of the national foreclosure settlement to fill a budget hole. Missouri (STOMO1) would devote $40 million for education. Ohio (STOOH1) wants to tear down vacant homes. Ninety percent of… Read more ›
Ohio is one of the focal points of this Bloomberg story that looks at how states plan to use their share of the national foreclosure settlement. Some are using it to fill budget holes, while others will apply their money… Read more ›
LORAIN — City Council’s Federal Programs Committee recommends a resolution supporting a land reutilization corporation, or land bank, for Lorain County. The committee tonight heard from former Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis, who discussed the legal procedures and potential benefits… Read more ›
Last week’s $25 billion nationwide mortgage foreclosure settlement could send millions of dollars to the region to help tear down blighted, vacant properties across local neighborhoods hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis. During a visit Monday to Price Hill… Read more ›
Butler County is at a disadvantage to receive demolition money from the newly reached multi-state $25 billion foreclosure fraud settlement because it doesn’t have a land bank in place, said Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine. Ohio’s $335 million share of… Read more ›
LORAIN — Mayor Chase Ritenauer said he is hopeful Lorain can get a part of the $75 million Ohio will use for demolition of blighted homes around the state. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, on Friday, announced Ohio will get… Read more ›
The average home in Cleveland is on the market for 954 days before it sells. That shocking statistic from land bank guru Jim Rokakis, now director of the Thriving Communities Institute, is a polite way of saying there is no… Read more ›
Cuyahoga Land Bank Board President and Cleveland Councilman Tony Brancatelli as well as Cuyahoga Land Bank Board Member and Cleveland Chief of Regional Development Chris Warren joined Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine at a press conference on Friday, February 10th… Read more ›
30 vacant homes and 10 vacant lots in Cleveland are getting a second chance at new life, thanks to critical assistance from the City of Cleveland and the Cuyahoga Land Bank. In March 2011, a project, being developed by the… Read more ›
Last April, the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation, commonly known as the Cuyahoga Land Bank, was invited to speak before approximately 6,500 national and local policymakers, developers, engineers and other community leaders at the 2011 National Brownfields Conference in Philadelphia.… Read more ›
Uri Gofman, 39, of Beachwood: Sentencing Wednesday by Judge Daniel Gaul to an agreed upon eight years and three months in prison for orchestrating one of the nation’s largest mortgage fraud cases. He’ll serve that while serving the 81/2-year sentence… Read more ›
Two defendants, along with three companies, pled guilty to mortgage fraud crimes covering over 500 real estate transactions totaling $50 million, $44 million in fraudulent loans and $31 million in profits. Beachwood resident Uri Gofman, 39, pled guilty Dec. 21… Read more ›
