City Of Tulsa Plans To Demolish And Replace Abandoned Homes

Hundreds of abandoned and vacant homes could soon be on the chopping block.

Mayor GT Bynum said he and the city council would like to eliminate them over the next two years through the Working in Neighborhoods Department while partnering with non-profits to rebuild homes and communities.

The Mayor says the first step is to identify the properties, then demolish them and finally get new people back into the homes and revitalize neighborhoods.

Mayor Bynum said right now there is a backlog of more than 300 properties that the city has identified. 68 of them are ready to be demolished.

"It has a detrimental impact on everybody that lives in that neighborhood people who are working hard trying to keep their houses maintained but their property values are adversely impacted," said Mayor Bynum.

The funding will come from his proposed 2020 budget and from Community Development Block Grant. He also wants to partner with non-profits like Habitat For Humanity.

"They have more capacity to build homes then they have lots to build them on and so we realized there's a real opportunity here for the city to partner up," said Mayor Bynum.

After the buildings are torn down, Bynum said an agency like Habitat For Humanity would come in and do what they do best.

"To build new homes on those sites and get new residents into those homes," said Mayor Bynum.

He said the Health Department would also get involved to make sure the properties stay clean with the goal to eliminate troublesome properties.

$346,000 of funding will come from Community Development Block Grant and $175,000 will come from the general fund for the fiscal year 2020.

Mayor Bynum said if the budget is approved, demolition of the 68 properties could start as early as this summer.