BATON ROUGE — Mayor-President Sid Edwards and Office of Community Development Director Kelly LeDuff on Monday announced $6 million in federal grant funding for initiatives that aim to address blight and stimulate home ownership across East Baton Rouge Parish.

"It's equally important that we enhance economic development by returning previously blight properties to commerce," Edwards said. 

City leaders said the money will be used to fund a first-time home buyer program featuring lower mortgage rates and down payment assistance, find uses for vacant city-owned property, revamp local storefronts and work with developers on large-scale projects throughout the parish. 

“We expect to see millions more invested by private developers and contractors as the initiative jump-starts additional cleanups of blighted properties that can be placed back in use for new housing and commercial development,” Edwards said.

The city-parish debuted a home on Lori Burgess Avenue that will be the first home up for sale through the program.

"We are going to take this home, we're going to sell it, and then we're going to take that money and we're going to take some more city-owned properties and invest that money back into those properties and just keep the process going," East Baton Rouge Community Development Program Manager Leonard Briscoe said. 

Earlier this year, Edwards and members of his administration took a trip to Detroit to learn more about the city's blight removal process.

Over the last 12 years, Detroit tackled nearly 47,000 abandoned homes through demolition or rehabilitation.

LeDuff says the initiative was inspired in part by what was shared in Detroit.

"This is our creative way to move everybody up a step. If you are leasing a home, and you can own a home, that's huge right? But, then we also created a home that someone can lease," LeDuff said. 

The OCD will host a series of developer workshops to "ensure that contractors, developers, landlords, and tenants understand their rights and responsibilities under federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations."

The series begins Friday with a workshop for landlords and tenants. 

According to Edwards, the city has demolished 21 blighted structures in 2026, and another 48 properties are in the condemnation process.

Earlier this year, Councilwoman Twahna P. Harris hosted an event aimed at combating blight in neighborhoods across East Baton Rouge Parish. 

Watch the announcement here: