A new initiative by Butler’s redevelopment authority aims to combat blight and rehabilitate homes.

The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Butler is set to receive $250,000 from the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement fund to establish a pilot program addressing housing in the city.

The redevelopment authority will use the funds for an acquisition, rehab and resale program. The program will purchase blighted or distressed housing and rehabilitate it into single-family housing units.

Veronica Walker, redevelopment authority executive director, said the program is a new effort by the authority to help combat blight and give more opportunities for low- to moderate-income families to move in.

She said funds made from the sale of rehabilitated properties will be allocated toward the program with the hopes of it snowballing over the coming years. She also said she is more than willing to work alongside the City of Butler Land Bank to ensure the program reaches the areas of most need.

The city’s redevelopment authority and two county-level programs are collectively receiving $650,000 from a $93.4 million statewide investment from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s fund.

Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy said seeing state investment in the city, through this program and others, makes him feel “heartened.”

“It means the state is looking at us and saying Butler is a worthwhile investment,” he said.

He said efforts to combat blight and revitalize buildings across the city are a shared and growing endeavor between city government, the redevelopment authority, the land bank and the county government.

“When we work together, we can maximize the money we receive for programs like this one.” Dandoy said. “The state will see us using that money and trying to maximize it and hopefully that will be incentive for more support in the future.”

He said he feels the city is on the cusp of taking an aggressive approach toward blight, negligent landlords, and other residential and commercial property concerns. He noted that an “aggressive” approach may still feel slow due to all of the red tape required.

“It moves very slowly, and it should. There needs to be a due process so property owners have every opportunity to rehabilitate their properties on their own,” he said.

He said he hopes revitalizing homes and other property throughout the city will have a systemic effect on the city’s economy and labor opportunities.