Efforts of leaders restore eyesores in the Valley
Especially knowing what the house used to look like.
Gruneberg, 62, former owner of Knockers Billiards & Games in
Gruneberg, who lives with her fiance, said her husband had just passed away. She had been living in
She moved to the
"I knew it was part of a row home that caught on fire," she said Tuesday at her kitchen table. "I was shocked when I was brought into it. Everything was brand new."
She bought the property at a judicial tax sale, meaning she didn't have to pay liens. She also acquired two adjacent lots where two other row homes once sat, also through tax sales. Those lots are her side yard now.
Those properties are among many the housing authority has been restoring to fight blight in the county.
The efforts are among those of officials throughout the Valley who are trying to cut out eyesores to make communities more attractive to residents, newcomers and businesses.
The
The grant is expected to renovate up to 60 properties.
The authority also plans a code enforcement training
The training is aimed at teaching municipal officials how to deal with blight problems and make property owners more responsible.
"We came up with a strategy to stop the bleeding," Christiano said. "We're a model for the state. They like our program."
In a visit to the Valley in June,
"We have to think about not just next year," Vilello said, "but what are we going to look like in 2035, 2050? What are the right sizes for our communities?"
In
The housing voucher, or Section 8, program pays part of qualifying tenants' rent in decent housing. The owner-occupied rehabilitation program offers assistance to qualifying homeowners to rehabilitate their properties.
"The authority has helped owners renovate over 1,000 units over the years," Quigley said. "It's probably about 30 years. It has been shown that programs like this help to reduce blight."
"We like to think here at the COG that our
CK-COG provides enforcement of Uniform Construction Code building permitting and zoning and code enforcement in all or parts of
"If we look at our membership of 47 municipalities and those with/without property maintenance, there is definitely a higher quality aspect to neighborhoods and housing stock in those with property maintenance than those without," Smith said. "However, that may not be fair, because those without usually tend to be large townships that have such a diverse, spread out population that it would be very difficult to enforce the same rules and regulations as a dense, compact borough."
He said the agency recently revised the International Property Maintenance Code to better serve municipalities and to expand upon various chapters such as the fire safety chapter and added a chapter on rental housing and permitting.
In
___
(c)2018 The Daily Item (Sunbury, Pa.)
Visit The Daily Item (Sunbury, Pa.) at www.dailyitem.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Final public hearing for proposed tax rate scheduled
‘I can’t lose this money’: KC area investors, IRAs ensnared in big Florida bankruptcy
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News