State not saving enough homes
The Ohio Housing Finance Agency appears more interested in demolishing homes than saving them, a new federal report says.
The state agency, with a mission of preserving and developing low- to moderate-cost housing, also unnecessarily spent $204,522 in federal funds since 2010 on items such as employee parking and bus passes (at $90 to $110 a month each) and admission and meals at zoos for agency events, the probe found.
The findings come from a report to Congress on Thursday by the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which oversees the Hardest Hit Fund, a federal program launched in 2010 to help save the homes of the downon-their-luck in danger of foreclosure.
The Ohio housing agency has spent $433.8 million to help 25,293 endangered homeowners with as much as $35,000 each to bring their delinquent mortgages current or make payments for as long as 18 months while unemployed homeowners searched for jobs.
Funds also can be spent to demolish abandoned homes in “challenged communities” such as Columbus.
The federal inspector general’s office did not seem impressed with Ohio’s use of Hardest Hit Funds during the past year.
“The Ohio state agency, paid $54.3 million in (administrative) funds (since 2010), appears to be heavily focused on blight demolitions and less focused on helping homeowners,” the report said.
The state has spent nearly $71.6 million to demolish 5,246 abandoned houses since August 2013, the second highest total in
the nation, said the report — which also objected to “skyrocketing” costs.
Average Ohio demolition costs climbed about 45 percent from $10,606 to $15,367 through the first quarter of this year and then ticked down to $13,544 in the second quarter. A total of 421 houses have been taken down in Franklin County for $6.7 million, an average of $15,914 each.
Meanwhile, the housing agency helped 760 homeowners with mortgage assistance during the past year while 24,468 Ohioans lost their homes to foreclosure. A total of 645 Ohioans looking for jobs received mortgage assistance while more than 300,000 Ohioans remained unemployed, the report said.
Spokeswoman Molly Moses said the agency disagrees that it overly focuses on demolishing blighted properties, particularly since the demand for assistance has decreased amid an improved economy. The program now only assists those facing mortgage problems due to unemployment,
she said. A new program was created to help those facing income loss due to shortterm disability.
“By taking a balanced approach with the removal of vacant and blighted houses in many of the same neighborhoods where the 25,000-plus homes have already been saved from foreclosure, communities can continue to recover through this initiative,” she said.
The demolition program has opened up lots for affordable housing development, “pocket parks,” community gardens and playgrounds while eliminating eyesores that can attract crime and drug use, Moses said. With foreclosures falling and the economy improving, the agency anticipates a 53-47 percent split between mortgage assistance and demolition before funding ends.
The inspector general criticized the state agency for about $204,000 in spending since 2010, including $127,932 on a “fleet” of cars, $63,432 in unemployment payments to former employees and $13,158 on events with housing counselors. Moses said the expenditures were “necessary, reasonable and eligible.”
The report erred in saying the agency purchased cars, she said, with $14,079 instead spent to cover expenses for the use of state cars and $113,853 paid to COTA and parking lot vendors to provide bus passes and parking for employees — a “fringe benefit” in line with agency policy. The number of employees who received bus passes or parking has varied from five to 45 at times, she said.
The report also noted that Ohio has the fourth-highest spending on administrative costs — $54.3 million — among the 18 states and the District of Columbia participating in the program. Moses said Ohio’s 7 percent spending on administrative costs is the lowest in the nation.
Ohio remains eligible for another $209 million in funding until 2021.
DAYTON — A registered sex offender has been convicted of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl who had been waiting for a school bus.
Jurors in Dayton convicted Randy Stanaford, 39, on all counts Friday.
Stanaford was arrested just days after the girl was abducted and sexually assaulted in September 2016. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Prosecutors said Stanaford had a knife when he grabbed the girl at the bus stop and raped her in a nearby yard.
State records show Stanaford spent five years in prison for attempted kidnapping and public indecency. His sex offender registration lists him as living homeless in Dayton.