The city’s weed and litter crew helped clean out several houses owned by the Zanesville Community Improvement Corporation.

The Zanesville Community Improvement Corporation is a quasi-governmental organization charged with bringing vacant or otherwise underutilized properties back to productive use. 

The CIC currently has a portfolio of several houses and numerous vacant properties scattered across the city. It is partnering with Habitat for Humanity to both build new housing and rehabilitate existing properties.

In the summer of 2023, the CIC embarked on ambitious project to rehabilitate several blighted properties to return them to the city’s housing stock. Funded by an allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds by the City of Zanesville, local contractors will rehab properties that otherwise would be demolished. The project will provide housing to first time home buyers. Any profit from the sale of the properties will be rolled back into rehabbing additional houses. 

“We are excited about this project,” said the city’s Community Development Director Matt Schley, who heads the Zanesville Community Improvement Corporation. “It will prevent more vacant lots-which this city does not need, while improving the city’s overall housing stock.”

The CIC was selected to take part in a pilot project funded by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. The $1.7 million project will build up to ten new homes in the city. The project is still in the planning phase.

The CIC is governed under section 1724 of the Ohio Revised Code.

The city’s weed and litter crew was instrumental in preparing CIC properties for rehabilitation.