RAISE Program Receives $1 Million Earmark to Address Dilapidated Buildings

Thanks to a request by Senator Manchin and his staff, the WVLSC will receive $1,000,000 in congressionally-appropriated funds this year from the HUD Economic Development Initiative to pilot its Rehabilitation And Improvement for Structures Endowment (RAISE) Program.

This project stems from the WVLSC’s ongoing work with West Virginia’s Abandoned Properties Coalition, a statewide network dedicated to solving West Virginia’s widespread abandoned and dilapidated buildings problem. The WVLSC will issue grants for demolition and rehabilitation of problem properties to communities with populations of 15,000 or less that have developed a bad buildings inventory through participation in the WVU Bad Buildings Program.

Join us on Wednesday, June 29th at 1 pm for an informational webinar: Bridging the Gap: How to Obtain Grant Funds through the WVLSC’s RAISE Program. Register in advance via this link.

This Federal investment demonstrates renewed attention to an ongoing challenge and complements the statewide demolition work being done by the WV Department of Environmental Protection through its recently funded Reclamation of Abandoned and Dilapidated Properties Program.

Warner Theatre Reuse Plan Completed

This winter we collaborated with local stakeholders to help further the community-driven vision of reviving the historic Warner Theatre in downtown Morgantown. Using funds from our EPA Assessment Grant, we developed a reuse plan for the Theatre and surrounding area that includes remediation cost estimates, a detailed analysis of parking and access needs, and placemaking concepts to incorporate other assets on South High Street. We’re excited to see this project moving forward!

Advances in Land Reuse in WV

During the 2022 Legislative Session the WV Legislature passed SB 552, which streamlines the process of selling property tax debt in West Virginia. The revised law simplifies a long-standing and complicated system of county and state tax sales. The entire process has been shortened, and there will now be only one tax sale, which will be managed by the WV State Auditor’s Office. The new law also gives entities such as local governments, Land Reuse Agencies, and Urban Renewal Authorities the right to take ownership of these abandoned properties immediately following tax sales, thereby reducing the time that properties deteriorate before being put back into productive reuse.

Hear what State Auditor JB McCuskey has to say about SB 552 on Metro News.