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Housing momentum must be maintained

3 min read

As a one-man operation, David Mirkovich did a remarkable job as executive director of the Greene County Redevelopment Authority.

Considering the importance and impact the redevelopment authority can have on a municipality, especially for a county such as Greene where housing issues are paramount, we implore officials and the redevelopment authority board to move quickly to find a replacement for Mirkovich, who jump-started an agency that had been dormant for years but was reactivated in 2009.

Mirkovich became the executive director in 2012, and he quickly embraced what the authority had earlier established as its primary focus – improving housing and addressing the county’s housing shortage.

Recognizing the responsibility before him, he developed a housing program and obtained grant money to fund it.

The authority, under Mirkovich, received two competitive grants from the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Act program, for a total of $846,000, to fund a project aimed at addressing blighted properties.

The grant money, plus contributions from the county and municipalities, are being used to rehabilitate vacant and dilapidated houses, and to demolish houses that are too far gone in order to provide lots for new home construction.

Under the program, the authority, so far, has rehabilitated one house in Bobtown using an inmate work crew from the State Correctional Institution at Greene for labor. The house, which was off the tax rolls for a number of years, was recently sold.

It also demolished two blighted houses in Waynesburg, obtained four lots on which it intends to construct new modular homes, and demolished two dilapidated houses in Jefferson to provide land on which the nonprofit Accessible Dreams will construct a two-story, four-unit apartment building.

We said earlier Mirkovich was a one-man operation, a lone employee, but we assume he received direction from the authority’s board of directors, chaired by Marcia Sonneborn.

We expect Mirkovich and the board had a good working relationship, as evidenced by Sonneborn’s reaction to Mirkovich’s announced retirement.

“He’s put in motion a lot of good projects, and I would have liked to see them moved further along before we had to find a new director,” she said.

Mirkovich, meanwhile, indicated he would stay on board until March 31 to assist his replacement and make for a smooth transition.

We recognize Mirkovich made some significant accomplishments during his brief two-year tenure as executive director. We also recognize his replacement has some tough challenges ahead.

Some of the issues that will need to be addressed are considerable. Fifteen percent of the county’s population lives in poverty. Estimates suggest that up to 45 percent of the county’s residents are considered “tenants” and do not own the structures they live in. And more than 5,000 households within the county are eligible for affordable housing assistance.

We suggest, therefore, that the new executive director will have to shift his focus to meet the redevelopment authority’s extended mission, and that is to “assist the Greene County community with economic development, community revitalization, affordable housing initiatives and home ownership opportunities.”

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