Apr 17, 2018 4 min read

Once considered a model coal mining town, Nemacolin has seen better days.

Constructed in the early 1900s by the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. to provide housing for coal miners at its Buckeye Mine, the old coal patch is now scattered with a number of abandoned and dilapidated homes.

“Right now, off the top of my head, I’d say I could probably condemn or demolish at least 10 houses” in the community, Cumberland Township code enforcement officer Ann Bargerstock said.

Efforts to help revitalize the town received a boost last week when the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency announced a $525,000 grant for a housing rehabilitation program for Nemacolin.

The grant, awarded to Greene County through the agency’s Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement program, or PHARE, will be used to rehabilitate or demolish about 35 houses in Nemacolin.

Nemacolin has more than 300 houses. A number of them could use some work, Bargerstock said.

“This money should help us make great strides in making things a lot better in Nemacolin,” she said.

The program, which will be administered by the Greene County Redevelopment Authority, will use the grant money to purchase and rehabilitate houses, which will then be sold to private owners, or to demolish houses in too bad a condition to repair.

The project will also offer zero-percent loans to homeowners to make major system repairs and for energy efficiency upgrades.

While many homeowners in the community maintain their properties in good condition, some, primarily those who have purchased houses and rent them, don’t, Cumberland Supervisor Jim Sokol said.

The township was asked by a renter last week to inspect the house in which he was living because of its poor condition, Sokol said.

“It was terrible. There was exposed wiring and the stove was being used to heat the house,” he said.

The township is taking action against the landlord, Sokol said.

“It’s a shame people have to live in those conditions.”

Sokol said the township has been trying to address the housing problem not only through code enforcement but also through its own housing rehabilitation program, which is funded with the township’s limited Community Development Block Grant money.

“It is very much needed down there,” Sokol said about how much the new grant will help the community.

The new housing program in Nemacolin will be similar to a county-wide housing program currently operated by the redevelopment authority, authority executive director Dave Calvario said.

The authority program, aimed at revitalizing communities by rehabilitating or demolishing blighted homes, also receives money through PHARE, which is funded with through Marcellus Shale impact fees.

The authority acquires properties through donations or by purchasing them at low costs through judicial or tax sales. It rehabilitates houses that can be rehabilitated and demolishes those beyond repair to make room for new housing.

Houses that are repaired are sold and the proceeds used to cover the costs of the repairs and possibly to make money to purchase and repair additional homes.

Since the authority began the housing program, it has purchased and rehabilitated a dozen homes, built three new homes and begun construction on four townhouses. It also has demolished four blighted houses.

Calvario said the authority board agreed to focus on Nemacolin because of the number of abandoned and blighted properties in the community.

“These coal patch communities need a lot of work and we thought it just made sense to start with a program in Nemacolin,” he said.

Cumberland Township also has contributed money towards the housing program, he said.

The Nemacolin program also will provide zero-percent loans to residents, which is something that is not a part of the authority’s countywide program. Guidelines for the loans have not yet been developed, Calvario said.

The grant was announced last week by state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson.

“Those of us who’ve had the situation in Nemacolin on our radar are ecstatic about this news, which represents a major opportunity to help remove hazards and turn things around in that community,” Snyder said.

She also announced a separate $195,000 PHARE grant to the Greene County Homeless Prevention and Housing Stabilization Program.

That money will go for leasing an apartment to serve as an emergency shelter, hire a case worker to coordinate services for residents of Parkview Knoll and other low-income households in need of homeless prevention assistance and provide rental payments for eight units in conjunction with homeless prevention efforts.