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Authority completes renovation of two homes

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WAYNESBURG – A house in Dunkard Township up for mortgage foreclosure and half of a duplex in Pitt Gas vacant for more than 20 years had something in common. They both were in poor condition and exactly what the Greene County Redevelopment Authority was looking for with its housing rehabilitation program.

“We take the properties no one else wants,” said Dave Calvario, who has been authority executive director since March.

Renovations were recently completed to the house on Bunner Hill Road in Dunkard Township and the half duplex on Elm Street in Pitt Gas, and the houses are now up for sale. The homes have been completely renovated with new roofs, wiring, flooring, plumbing, bathrooms and many other needed improvements.

The properties are ideal for first-time homeowners, Calvario said.

“We bring them up to all the codes and they are made into simple, decent but affordable houses,” Calvario said.

The two houses are the second and third that have been renovated by the authority under its housing program. The first, a house in Bobtown, was sold last year.

The program, started about two years ago by the authority’s former executive director Dave Mirkovich, is funded by grants from the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Act program and contributions from the county and municipalities.

“The idea is to take what they now call blighted properties and either give them a rehab to provide homes for low and moderate income families or to tear them down and put something in their place,” Calvario said.

Houses that are razed are those that would be too costly to rehabilitate, he said. As the program progresses, the authority hopes to use the empty lots created by home demolitions possible as sites for construction of modular or pre-fabricated homes, Calvario said.

Rehabilitating the houses helps eliminate blight and increases the value of surrounding properties. It returns properties to the tax rolls, and most importantly, provides housing for those who need places to live.

“Revitalizing communities, that’s our long term goal,” Calvario said.

Jefferson Township Supervisor Richard Tekavec said half of the duplex in Pitt Gas has been well maintained by its owner, while the half now owned by the redevelopment authority was in “terrible” condition.

“Nobody would have done anything with it or would inhabit it unless it was taken over by the redevelopment authority,” he said. “They did a really good job on it.”

The house will now be back on the tax rolls, Tekavec said.

“And maybe a family will move in and add something to the community,” he said. “It’s a positive for everyone.”

The authority operates the program on a shoe-string budget.

It obtains properties through donations or by purchasing them in foreclosure or from the county’s tax repository of tax delinquent properties.

Most of the delinquent properties have generated no tax revenue for local school districts or governments for many years and the prices the authority pays for them is usually nominal.

The Dunkard Township home was in foreclosure and donated to the authority by the Well Fargo Bank, Calvario said. Wells Fargo also has donated another house to the authority on Cherry Alley in Waynesburg.

The half of the duplex in Pitt Gas was purchased by the authority from the county tax repository for $50.

The authority tries to buy property as inexpensively as possibly so it can use its limited grant money for rehabilitation and construction.

It also benefits tremendously from the free labor provided by inmates in the state Correctional Institution at Greene’s Community Works Program.

The authority does employ a construction manager, Steve Salisbury. But without the free inmate labor many of the projects might not be doable.

“If we had to pay a contractor to do the work, it would double the cost of the house,” Calvario said. “It’s important for us to keep costs down.”

Homes the authority renovates will mainly be sold to low and moderate income residents, Calvario said. The authority’s state grant requires 30 percent of the money be used to benefit people with incomes of less than 50 percent of median area income, with is about $26,000 a year, he said.

Having been involved with Habitat for Humanity for the last 15 years, Calvario understands the importance of the authority’s housing program in helping families of modest means.

“I’ve seen what home ownership can do for a family,” he said. “It gives them an extra bounce to their step.” For many, he added, “home ownership is something they never thought possible before.”

The authority continues to search for properties to renovate in the county. It has had private individuals donate homes to the program, Calvario said.

As a cost saving measure it also is attempting to sell the two homes itself. Anyone interested in seeing the two homes or in donating a property to the authority can call the authority at 724-852-5306.

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