West Virginia’s Blueprint Communities Get a Primer on Housing: How to Replenish Aging Housing Stock Explained to Local Leaders

Posted by West Virginia RealEstateRama

June 11, 2008

Beckley, WV, May 27, 2008 - Now that West Virginia’s ten Blueprint Communities have developed individual community revitalization plans, they’re getting down to brass tacks in addressing specific needs of importance to their citizens.

The Blueprint Communities initiative was introduced to West Virginia in March 2007 by Gov. Joe Manchin, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh (FHLBank) and eleven program partners as a way for smaller, aging localities to get their second wind, identify local needs, expand their organizational and project capacity and start revitalizing their community. Last week and today, team members from seven Blueprint Communities - Fairmont Southside, Gilmer County, Mullens, Ritchie County, Salem, Shinnston and Williamson - turned out for seminars on developing a local housing strategy. The events were hosted by The Community Collaborative, Inc. and the Community Development Partnership of West Virginia, both Blueprint Communities program partners.

Led by former National League of Cities President James C. (Jim) Hunt of Clarksburg, who now serves as executive director of a revitalization corporation that is pursuing renewal of the Sunnyside neighborhood of Morgantown, the seminars allowed representatives of Blueprint Communities to gain access to important information and advice on strengthening local housing authorities, better identifying local housing needs and addressing the issues of dilapidated or insufficient housing stock in both a strategic and cost-effective manner. Also serving as seminar instructors were John Martys, executive director of the Fairmont/Morgantown Housing Authority, and Josie Cuda, outgoing executive director of the Randolph County Housing Authority.

“These important workshops represent the second stage of the Blueprint Communities initiative, in which local leaders receive additional assistance so they can begin to implement their strategic plans with precision,” said Hunt. “While Blueprint Communities does not focus exclusively on the issue of housing, it remains a priority topic for communities in the Mountain State and must be tackled as part of larger, community-wide revitalization efforts.”

Armed with newfound insights, workshop participants will return to their communities and engage local citizens in a process of identifying housing most in need of repair. Renovation work or demolition will be prioritized based on criteria developed by the community, such as the safety or health risk posed by an aging structure, the location of the dwelling and the possible benefits of prolonging its existence. The potential need for construction of new housing will also be addressed.

Other Blueprint Communities in the Mountain State are Ansted, McDowell County and St. Albans.

The Blueprint Communities initiative was conceived by FHLBank Pittsburgh and introduced with more than one dozen partners in Pennsylvania in 2005. It began in West Virginia in 2007 and was then introduced in Delaware in 2008. A total of 41 communities have, or are undergoing, the Blueprint Communities training process across these three states.

With assets of approximately $105 billion, FHLBank Pittsburgh, a government-sponsored enterprise created by Congress in 1932, serves 333 financial institution members across its three-state district of Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It is one of twelve FHLBanks, all cooperatively owned banks using private capital, not taxpayer dollars, to provide a steady stream of low-cost financing and grants for general purpose local lending, affordable housing and community and economic development.

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