MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR

MAYOR INVITES RESIDENTS TO HELP SET PRIORITIES FOR NEIGHBORHOODS
Online survey part of City’s plan for neighborhood funding, programs
I would like to invite Fort Wayne residents from all corners of the city to identify their household’s and neighborhood’s needs in an online survey. Information gathered during this process will help to identify community priorities and align programs for the city’s neighborhoods.
Now through June 30, you can complete the 17-question survey online at www.cityoffortwayne.org/neighborhoodsurvey. The questions ask about transportation, social service needs, neighborhood problems, homeownership and household demographics. Most respondents will be able to complete the survey in less than 10 minutes. All information will be kept confidential.   
The survey results will be included in the City of Fort Wayne’s Housing and Community Development Plan. It serves as Fort Wayne’s application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for approximately $17 million in a combination of Community Development Block Grant, Home Investment Partnerships and Emergency Shelter Grant funding in the next five years. The plan requires the City to identify local challenges and ensure programs address those needs.
The ideas and opinions of every person, in every neighborhood are important to me. By taking a quick online survey today, you can help to set the City’s funding priorities and shape programs to assist residents and neighborhoods for the next five years. Whether you’re a homeowner or renter, a young family or a senior, live in an older neighborhood or a brand new home, please tell me what you think. By working together, we can strengthen our community and make it a place of pride and opportunity for all.
I also recently had the opportunity to celebrate the success the City has seen with the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. I joined officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to proclaim June as Homeownership Month in the city.
Fort Wayne has become a national model for HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program that works in partnership with the potential homeowners and private contractors. In less than 18 months, the purchase-custom rehabilitation program invested nearly $5 million in 32 vacant or foreclosed homes in the NSP target area. Many of these homes have been in more established neighborhoods in the center of the city.
The NSP purchase-custom rehab houses saw a collective increase of appraised values of more than 63 percent from when the properties entered the program to when the new homeowners closed.