Bloomington city leaders plan to implement a multi-faceted strategy aimed at addressing vacant properties throughout the city over the next several years.
The proposed Housing Rehabilitation Program, a part of a larger neighborhood revitalization effort, was presented publicly for the first time during Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
Cordaryl Patrick, the city’s Community Impact and Enhancement Director, said their estimates indicate Bloomington has about 300-400 properties that are currently vacant and derelict and would be targeted by the initiative.
“The neighborhood housing rehabilitation program will be a targeted, community-wide, city-wide initiative designed to address property deterioration, increase neighborhood safety, expand housing opportunities, and promote community pride,” said Patrick.
He said the first step in the strategy is to confirm that estimate, then determine the best course of action in each case.
“There are different strategies that we’re going to find ourselves in, depending on the property itself. We kind of have to have a tailored strategy for each property, if that makes sense,” said Patrick. “Can the property be rehabbed, yes or no, right? Do we need to acquire the property for redevelopment? Do we need to demolish the property because it can’t be rehabbed? Does the property need to be enrolled in our neighborhood preservation program? Can the property be donated right to a qualified nonprofit?”
Among the program’s core objectives is to bolster the quality of the local housing stock, improve the overall housing quality as well as neighborhood safety and visual appearance, and increase the supply of affordable and market-rate housing through both rehabilitation and new construction.
Patrick noted that the program is a considerable undertaking that will require a “partnership pipeline” of working with housing organizations, organized neighborhood groups, nonprofit organizations, and development corporations.
“We do not have the capacity to do this work alone; we just don’t,” he said. “We don’t have the people capacity. We don’t have the resources to do it alone. We would need strategic partners to implement this program effectively, efficiently and at scale.”
The program’s proposed funding for the 2026 fiscal year would include using $1.47 million in federal grants for community development and lead-based paint hazard reduction. Another $360,000 would come from two Illinois Housing Development Authority programs, while city general fund dollars would add $20,000.
Patrick said his staff is also requesting another $105,000 in city funding to complete an update to the West Bloomington Quality of Life study, and additional quarterly neighborhood cleanups.
Fire department annual report
In his report on fire department activities in 2024, Chief Cory Matheny detailed a 4% increase in incidents over the previous year, with a total of more than 14,000 – the busiest year in history. Of those, more than 76% were for Emergency Medical Services.
He said some of the main objectives going forward are working on improving response times, continuing to implement the department’s three-year strategic plan, and taking steps to remove hiring barriers and enhance recruitment.
“I’m really excited to say that we're building momentum,” said Matheny. “We've hired 19 new people in the last year. We've made significant investments in equipment, upgrades, vehicles, improvements to our stations and facilities, and we continue to make progress to staffing a fifth ambulance every day.”
Arts and entertainment update
The council also heard a report on the 2025 fiscal year showings for the city-owned Grossinger Motors Arena and Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts.
The report shows the two venues combined for 201 event days, with gross revenues of almost $6.1 million at the arena and $2.2 million at the BCPA, and combined total attendance of more than 250,000.
“For about every dollar we received, we put about 15 [dollars] back into the economy through economic impact,” said Arts and Entertainment Director Anthony Nelson. “As we continue to grow to the department, grow our relationships with promoters and find more efficiencies, we anticipate continuing to grow or close the gap at both the BCPA and the arena.”
Arts and Entertainment Marketing Manager Josh Maubach pointed out the Bloomington Bison minor league hockey team accounted for about 102,000 of the 184,000 tickets sold for arena events in its inaugural season.
“We returned to net city revenue from Bison events of $1.1 million, and about $800,000 of that alone was food and beverage revenue,” said Maubach. “So just the fact that they're bringing people into the building and we're able to sell concessions to them, that's just a really huge part of what makes that relationship work.”
