Habitat for Humanity wants to partner with Jeannette on blighted properties' future

A Jeannette property with a dilapidated home is set to be donated to the city, pending council’s acceptance next week.

The property, 522 Scott Ave., was deemed a public nuisance and slated for demolition during a September public hearing. The house has been abandoned for about five years and has holes in the roof, fire Chief Bill Frye said.

The city is looking for funding to take care of the demolition. A new owner, who hadn’t seen the state of the home before purchasing the property, is donating it, according to city officials.

Courtney Guerrieri, executive director of the Central Westmoreland Habitat for Humanity, hopes to capitalize on potentially dozens of empty properties citywide as a large blight-removal project is getting started. During council’s Wednesday meeting, she proposed a partnership that would help the organization build homes for families in need, after blight is cleared.

“I’m more than happy to work on a plan with you guys,” she said.

The Scott Avenue property might be an option since the deed is being donated to the city, Frye said.

But most of the other properties the city is seeking to have demolished through American Rescue Plan Act funding are not owned by Jeannette. Acquiring them out of the county’s repository for tax-delinquent properties could be an option, Frye said.

Habitat for Humanity works with low- to moderate-income partner families to either rehabilitate a home or build a new structure. The partner family works on the property before moving in with an affordable mortgage. The organization recently turned over the keys to a rehabilitated home on Orange Avenue.

Some of the properties that have gone through demolition hearings and been turned over to the county for further action could be razed within the next couple of months, Frye said. That includes the former Fort Pitt Brewery building in West Jeannette.

Council could decide to waive demolition permit fees for residential properties being taken down through the ARPA funds. The fee still will apply for the brewery property.

Westmoreland County has set aside $10.4 million of its ARPA allocation for blight removal in Jeannette and six other communities.