It has been a year since millions of dollars of federal money were allocated in Indiana for the demolition of abandoned homes in the area.
Fox59 reported that a total of $75 million were distributed to dozens of communities in the state from Richmond to Anderson to Indianapolis, but even after a year a lot of abandoned homes in the area are still standing.
$3.2 million was allocated in Richmond to demolish about 160 abandoned homes. The demolition done by the city council last Monday was still their seventh.
"You hear the neighbors call and say hey when's that house gonna come down?" said Sarah Mitchell, city planner for Richmond. "It's been an eyesore for years and years. When are you actually going to see it come down?"
Richmond city officials expect to have a domino effect as a result of months of work coming to public fruition.
"It's a big relief," Mitchell added. "It really is. It's a year in the making. And it's all for five to ten minutes of relief."
Indianapolis state officials said that among the projected 170 houses to be demolished, only 13 homes have been torn down.
Renew Indianapolis was the one that signed a contract with the city this past summer to manage a majority of the project.
Katy Brett, Executive Director of Renew Indianapolis, said that they would also like to see the abandoned homes to be torn down sooner than later, but that the project was being constantly slowed down by thousands of pages of federal requirements and deadlines.
"I think that's always a concern with federal funds that have a targeted timeline," said Brett. "We want to make sure tax dollars are being used well."
The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority is the one overseeing the federal dollars.
Mark Neyland, director of asset preservation, said that their agency will watch the happenings closely.
"I wouldn't call it concern, but we do monitor and we do everything we can to help the communities," Neyland said.
