
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 4, 1994                   TAG: 9501110005
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TED EDLICH
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HOW TO END HOUSING BLIGHT IN ROANOKE

In 1991, a Roanoke Times & World-News article indicated that of the 44,384 dwellings in Roanoke, 3,354 were vacant or uninhabitable. Another 3,000 were dilapidated or borderline.

In 1988, the Housing Development Strategy Task Force reported that the city's housing tends to be "older and more likely rental than that of the surrounding area or Virginia as a whole." The report pointed to a dramatic increase in multifamily units and a decrease in homeowner units as a percentage of total housing. It also commented that "while the net number of housing units in the city continues to increase, the rate of this increase has dropped dramatically from earlier decades."

Memo: NOTE: Please see microfilm for text.

by CNB