WARREN — Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership’s Matt Martin on Friday reminded city officials the nonprofit has been waiting for the city’s response to finance $3.7 million to salvage some abandoned homes and help renovate others so they can be sold.
As the city begins ramping up plans to respond to requests for the $28.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, Martin noted approximately 700 residential properties in Warren need to be demolished. About 100 properties are salvageable and about 400 homeowners are in need of emergency repairs and modification.
TNP is asking the city to allocate millions for the projects. It made its original request in January to both Warren and Trumbull County governments.
The organization plans to focus some of its efforts on home repairs, according to Martin. TNP projects the average home repair costs to be $7,500 per homeowner, with each project being capped at $15,000 for repairs.
Since TNP first made the pitch for ARP funds, Warren City Council has agreed to allow each of its members to guide the allocation of $500,000. Some discussion has taken place, but no final vote, for each council member to use $63,100 of their allocated $500,000 for the city’s 2022 road repair program.
Administration officials told council members that runaway inflation has been increasing the costs for businesses doing construction projects.
Other ARP funds have been allocated for the purchase of equipment needed by city departments.
Martin told council members that emergency home repairs include roof and gutter repairs / replacements, electrical, plumbing and HVAC work.
Since 2019, TNP has been involved with 170 emergency home repairs, which cost approximately $750,000. Currently, 160 people are on the wait list — 59 living in Warren– to have emergency home repairs done on their properties. The majority of the emergency home repair requests are in the city’s southwest and northwest sides.
Martin is asking council to help subsidize an average of $30,000 per unit for the renovation and sale of Warren properties.
TNP states it has invested nearly $3.5 million into renovation work and has leveraged an additional $10.5 million in private investments into housing throughout Trumbull County since 2013.
To date, 450 properties have been renovated.
ARP funds would be used to subsidize the gap between renovation costs and sale amount of future renovations. The estimated costs of renovations are $80,000, with sales prices of $50,000, leaving a $30,000 subsidy.
TNP is planning to do 50 new renovations over the next several years, he noted. It will need approximately $1.5 million for the subsidy.
Martin emphasized TNP is not asking either the city or the county to write checks. It is asking for them to make sure the money is available when needed.
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