The city of Youngstown has a plan in place that could ultimately bring down all of the worst vacant homes in the city.

The city hopes being a part of the demolition business will be a thing of the past if they can tear down up to 750 of the worst homes in two years or less. 

The city already has $8-million dollars in ARP funds in their back pocket for this project, but they're waiting to get their hands on a statewide $12-million residential brownfield grant that they've applied for.

The city said this grant would get the job done quicker and ARP funds could go elsewhere.

"If we get the brownfield grant, part of the demolition process gets taken over by the Land Bank," Mike Durkin, Youngstown Code Enforcement and Blite Remediation Superintendent said, "That's the difference."

Because the Mahoning County Land Bank would take care of the physical demolition, the city would be able to focus resources on identifying and prepping vacant homes for demolition. 

"We can see the finish line," Deb Flora Executive Director of Mahoning County Land Bank said, "and that is a really strong statement to make, considering that not that long ago, we had more than 4,000 vacant, abandoned badly beat up structures in the city of Youngstown."

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation has a housing strategy to address vacant land once the homes are demolished. The idea is to tackle the rest of the block once the worst homes are gone.

This could lead to new housing, business, renovation or green space, but before anyone invests, YNDC said removing blite is key.

"It creates a little more confidence in the neighborhood," YNDC Executive Director Ian Beniston said, "It excites people to invest on an existing property, their own property... no one wants to invest even if their own home if they have a blited, falling over house next to it."

Durkin said that given every property in the city has utilities, it shouldn't be hard to attract new development once the blite is gone.

"Youngstown is one giant development with everything ready to rock n' roll," he said, "We're ready to start business. We're ready to bring in opportunity."

He said the city should find out by the end of May if the grant was approved. If so, accelerated demolition begins immediately and could wrap up as soon as next summer.