By Mike Bowersock



The Problem
When I first arrived in the city, I was shell-shocked. Block after block of vacant and abandoned homes and businesses littered whole neighborhoods. Some of the buildings were boarded up, some were just shells of brick and wood that had been stripped of anything resembling life. I had no idea this city – my new home – could be this bad.

This was Detroit in 1994. I spent 10 years there for work. In 2004, I moved back to Columbus and saw small hints of the same problem here.

The two cities in no way compare. There are slightly more than 5,000 vacant buildings in Columbus, compared to more than 80,000 in Detroit. But unless the issue is addressed early, it has the potential to spin out of control.

Vacant and abandoned homes are one of the top priorities for our government leaders according to people who have attended our NBC 4 community forums. Neighbors of these eyesores wonder why someone can’t just tear them down.

It’s not that easy.



Ownership is often hidden or lost in the countless real estate transfers that frequently predate the condition. Many times, they are owned by out-of-state banks that only know the property as a case number.

Also, we take our property ownership rights very seriously in this country. Shouldn’t we give an owner every opportunity to fix his or her property before government comes in and just takes it?

“That’s the challenge” says Donna Hicho, head of the Greater Linden Development Corp. “It’s not like you can just go in and knock them down within a day. There’s a story behind every property that we have to get to the bottom of before we can figure out how to resolve it.”

Where it Stands
Since we started covering this issue last summer, we have seen improvements. From the government side, more money has come in to Columbus and the surrounding areas in the form of Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to buy some of these properties and either tear them down or refurbish and sell them at a profit.

In January, the United States Housing Secretary came to Columbus to announce $175 million had been set aside to target this growing problem.

There is also real progress being made in some of the smaller cities, like Newark, that received nearly $900,000 in grants. With that money, the city is buying foreclosed homes, fixing them up and actually turning a profit. For example, Newark purchased a home on North Eighth Street for almost nothing, put $70,000 worth of renovations into it, and will sell it for $85,000.

“I like your phrase the perfect storm,” says Dan Coffman, who was hired by Newark to look for these vacant homes and work out a deal. “The banks are in a situation where they need to move properties to get them off the books,” he explains, adding, “the city’s in a situation where they have money to buy the properties and then fix [them].”

The Solution
Like so many issues, however, the long-lasting solution will not come from the government. It will come from people like the Reverend John Edgar, a Columbus United Methodist Church Pastor who is getting money both from the city and the private sector to fix up homes on the south side.

“One of the central biblical concepts is that nobody is an island to itself,” Edgar says. “All of us have a mutual responsibility for one another and quality of life is a social thing.”

People like Charles Collins and Anisa Ahmed are also buying and fixing up these vacant homes on their own accord. Ahmed, a single mother of three, purchased a vacant home on the east side of Columbus and last summer. With the help of Collins, Ahmed plans to invest long hours, hard work and even more sweat to bring her home back to its former beauty.

“I have a plan, a vision, for this” she says.

“It’s nice to have the city also involved, but not to count on the city for everything” Collins adds.

If there is a vacant or abandoned home in your neighborhood, Columbus’ Department of Development recommends calling the mayor’s action line at 311. But it might also help to contact us at NBC 4 by e-mailing stories@nbc4i.com. We can shine a light on these homes and what problems they are causing. Often times that call can speed up the process of fixing up the houses or tearing them down.

I don’t think Columbus, or anywhere in Central Ohio, will ever become as bad as Detroit was in 1994. Wheels are already turning to stem the tide of vacant and abandoned buildings, but until these eyesores are remedied, we’ll continue to highlight them as the area’s “Houses from Hell.”

Mike Bowersock is a reporter for NBC 4.