Parish releases demolition report card

According to a report on the demolition of blighted houses in St. Tammany Parish after Hurricane Katrina, the parish has had more than half the houses demolished.

The snapshot of progress, released last week, are for houses that were unable to be repaired following Katrina in 2005. Since that time, the demolitions have been paid for by FEMA. However, after Jan. 1, any future blighted property that needs to be demolished will have to be done by the parish.

The report states there were 977 properties in the parish were considered blighted and needed to be demolished. Of those, 488 have been demolished voluntarily, and 143 were abandoned and demolished involuntarily without the owners being present. The combined demolitions of 631 homes makes up 64 percent of the reported blighted houses in the parish.

Currently, there are 293 properties closed, and residents have moved out, according to a court order that deemed the property unlivable. FEMA and the parish are currently working on 33 sites that are in the process of demolition, and there are 20 more properties going through the approval process.

Parish spokesman Tom Beale said as of Dec. 12, the last 20 properties had been approved for demolition under the auspices of FEMA.

Beale said the parish plans to have all these homes demolished by the end of the year. He said if residents find other houses or properties that are blighted due to Katrina, they should contact Code Enforcement within the St. Tammany Planning Department at 898-2529 to file a complaint, and start the process to have a blighted home demolished.

Beale said the process could take some time, because Code Enforcement has to establish that the property is blighted, and then it has to be condemned by the parish.

“It all depends on the situation,” Beale said.