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HRP Report May 2, 2007 Page 2 Demolition: The program has a second funding option for property owners who desire to remain in the community by providing demolition assistance. (See attached article from the Dec 14, 2000 edition of the Focus.) The house must still satisfy the “blight” criteria but there is no requirement that it be represented on “the List”. There are no criteria that apply to the demolition assistance, thus anyone—regardless of income, need, years in the community—could be eligible. That said, while all funding requests are approved at the discretion of the EDA, the EDA feels there should be some criteria to ensure program dollars are being spent appropriately. Potential Criteria: It would seem to make sense that there should be some funding guidelines associated with the demolition component of the program, aside from property eligibility. The following are a few potential criteria the Planning Commission could consider for inclusion in the program: • Financial status of applicant (funding could be based on “need”) • Residency requirement (applicant must be a resident for certain number of years) • Ownership requirement (applicant shall have owned and lived in the property) • Neighborhood analysis (city may want to target a specific neighborhood) • Maximum Award (Cap the total award to a maximum amount) • Deferred Loan (Require residency to receive full benefit of the grant) Financial Status: It is somewhat difficult to determine financial need and it may even be problematic to require that the applicant demonstrate financial hardship in this regard. The City would NOT want to provide such assistance to an individual who might be financially unable to complete the rebuild of the home, thus it may be the case that the applicant demonstrate that funding has been secured for the new home construction to be eligible for the demolition assistance. On the other hand, if an applicant is wealthy and is applying for the assistance because he or she can, the City may want criteria that guards against providing assistance to those without a need. Residency Requirement: Funding could be prioritized to benefit residents who have lived in the community for a certain number of years. This potential requirement however may preclude demolition of certain abandoned or vacant “distressed” homes whose owners have defaulted or walked away from the property. If applications are reviewed and “pointed”, perhaps bonus points could be applied to resident applications. Ownership Requirement: The program requirements could be revised to ONLY apply to applicants who have lived in the subject property for a minimum number of years. Adopting such a provision again would preclude demolition of abandoned or vacant “distressed” homes whose owners have defaulted or walked away from the property. While such a requirement makes sense, it might be advisable to build some discretion into the requirement as it might be in the City’s best interest to encourage a demolition rather than see a piece-meal rehab of a blighted property.