The Portage County Land Bank recently sold its first rehabilitated home through the Ohio Department of Development's Welcome Home Ohio program. The program provides funding to purchase houses on the open market and rehabilitate them. The Portage County Land Bank used this funding to partner with Neighborhood Development Services (NDS) and Habitat for Humanity of Portage County to expand affordable home ownership in Portage County.
For communities, this means fewer properties left to ruin or sold to banks, and more responsible redevelopment and more neighbors building lives in the homes, not just flipping and selling them.
“It was obvious the work was done to create lasting value," he said. "It felt like there was a genuine desire for this to become someone's home—not just another house to be sold.”
After viewing more than a hundred properties and making several offers, Bales said the process felt discouraging, but when he viewed this property, it all clicked.
"This house was exactly what we were looking for," Bales said. "“Home ownership means stability. It means investing in our future and creating something lasting for our family. We're building equity in a home we hope to keep for a long time—a place where our kids can grow up and where we can create memories together.”
The Portage County Land Bank was founded in 2012 as a response to the 2008 housing crisis. Through several programs, the Land Bank connects homeowners with affordable housing, rehabilitates run down properties, and enables new construction and cleans up contaminated and former industrial sites for productive use.
The Land Bank is currently completing six homes in this partnership with NDS and Habitat for Humanity through Welcome Home Ohio Program funding. An additional $400,000 in funding recently awarded from Welcome Home Ohio will support the construction of four new homes in Portage County over the next two years. Learn more about the Portage County Land Bank and its programs at www.pclandbank.org.