Neighborhood
Housing
Initiative
The City and its Redevelopment Authority have developed a plan and implementation strategy designed to reduce the number of code deficient, vacant and abandoned houses in the City of Pittston’s neighborhoods: The Neighborhood Housing Initiative. The goal is to improve the overall appearance of the neighborhoods creating: attractive, livable, safe and desired housing.
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The initial strategy is to acquire vacant and/or abandoned homes and demolish the properties that are unable to be saved. An early example is 58 Mill Street. The property was acquired by the Authority in a tax sale and was demolished with CDBG funding in November 2013.
The City of Pittston, like many older industrial communities, is faced with significant challenges in its neighborhoods. The following factors have been identified as contributing to the neighborhood decline:
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Population loss
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Older housing stock (64.18% of housing built before 1939 making housing stock in Pittston some of the oldest in the nation)
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Aging infrastructure
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Narrow lot size
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Street crowding (0ver 80% of housing units do not include driveways)
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Vacant houses
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Abandoned houses