CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Charleston Urban Renewal Authority approved a $250,000 allocation to the City of Charleston Wednesday to be used to demolish dozens of residences in the Capital City.
The city has targeted 52 houses to be torn down on the West Side and another dozen on the East End, according to Charleston Mayor Danny Jones.
“These houses are a hazard, safety-wise, health-wise and vagrants tend to take them over and live in them and that causes a lot of problems,” Jones said.
The city will through the required condemnation process. It’s not a simple process, Jones said.
Rod Blackstone, assistant to the mayor, said the city’s request is in response to the concerns of residents.
“We’ve been listening to what the public’s been saying and that’s ‘Take these houses down, remove the slum and blight,'” Blackstone said.
The city may ask CURA for additional $250,000 in the months to come, Jones said.
“We have a lot of houses we need to tear down we just don’t have the money,” he said.
Charleston has demolished nearly 850 homes in the last 20 years, most of those on the West Side.