ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Municipality of Anchorage has begun tearing down multiple vacant and abandoned homes across the city.
The work by the municipality is funded by a $500,000 federal American Rescue Plan Act grant that was allocated by the Anchorage Assembly for the project.
The money will cover the demolition of 10 homes, according to Kenny Friendly, Public Involvement Coordinator for the city’s Public Works Department.
On Tuesday, the third home on the list — a property in Fairview — was taken down.
“It definitely won’t be missed,” said Lydia Stough, a resident who lives next door to the house on Ingra Street.
Stough, who is relatively new to the neighborhood, said the property was frequented by homeless people.
“I guess there have been some instances where people have been like having rocks and bricks and things thrown at them,” she said. “They’ve been rifling through the trash. You can see them just blatantly going in the Conex for hours and just shutting the door, and we all know kind of what they are doing in there.”
Those issues are a big reason why the home — and others like it — are coming down, according to Anchorage Assembly member George Martinez.
“When we reset these blighted properties, we are removing drug houses, we are removing attractants for criminal elements, and really things that are negatively impacting our communities,” he said.
The teardowns come with the property owner’s consent. Once the lots are clear, the owners will be able to sell the land or redevelop it.
“At this point in time, [it will] create new housing opportunities, which is really exciting,” Martinez said.
The city may be paying for the demolition, but officials insist it’s still a bargain considering the public resources involved with repeated calls to problem properties. Friendly said a typical response could involve code enforcement officers, police and sometimes fire department employees.
“[It’s a] big bill for the city, and those are funds that can be better used elsewhere,” Friendly said.
Currently, there are nearly 200 vacant and abandoned properties on the city’s list, many of which are multi-family housing units. The hope is that more funding will allow the city to tear down some of the properties or renovate them to provide new housing stock in Anchorage.
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