The Niagara Falls Community Development Department, through the new Zombie Fight Project, is identifying vacant houses held by absentee owners or stuck in bank foreclosure and needs help from local residents. “Zombie houses do not easily show up on paper. We need to identify houses that have been vacant for a long period of time or have not been properly maintained, then take corrective action,” said Seth Piccirillo, Director of Community Development. “As always, we are looking to the neighborhoods for help, as residents know the most about the streets they call home.”
Residents can email addresses and/or photos of vacant houses to ZombieFight@niagarafallsny.gov or call (716) 286-8800 and leave a message. The Zombie Fight Project will create and maintain a list of “25 Most Wanted Zombies,” and then work with all parties involved to expedite the foreclosure process, facilitate a sale or ensure that the property is actually maintained to code, and then provide the community with bi-monthly progress reports. This approach will be applied to both privately and publicly owned properties as a way to improve and protect the quality of life in our neighborhoods. The project also includes mortgage consultation for residents that may be in danger of bank foreclosure as well as housing improvements designed to help.
Earlier this year, the Niagara Falls Community Development Department was awarded a $250,000 competitive grant from Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) that will specifically fund new legal, inspection, renovation and community outreach efforts over the next three years. The goal is to employ technology and community based tactics to more efficiently eliminate vacancy and blight.
A total of 76 grants were awarded statewide, under the Zombie Remediation and Prevention Initiative, which the Office of the Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman established in July 2016 with funds drawn from the $3.2 billion settlement agreement with Morgan Stanley that Schneiderman, as co-chair of the federal-state working group on residential-mortgage-based securities, negotiated in February. That settlement generated $550 million in cash and consumer relief for New Yorkers. LISC, a national community development intermediary that specializes in affordable housing, economic development, and community revitalization, is overseeing the initiative; selected the grantees; and will be providing technical assistance to the funded municipalities as they implement their plans.
Seth Piccirillo, Director
Niagara Falls Community Development
Phone: 716-286-8801
#LiveNF
www.nf-cd.org
www.facebook.com/NiagaraFallsCD
Leave a Reply