GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Tuesday, the city of Grand Rapids announced a plan to purchase nine homes in an area routinely affected by flooding.

The homes are on Tremont Boulevard NW near Shawmut Boulevard and Covell Avenue. They are in the Shawmut Hills Drainage District.

Deputy City Manager Eric DeLong said the purchase of eight homes will be paid for by a FEMA grant.

A ninth home on Tremont is being considered for purchase.

DeLong said this is a ”historic problem” that the drain commissioner and the city inherited.

The homes were constructed back in the 1950s and the land was in the City of Walker at the time. Kent County Drain Commissioner William Byl said the fact that these homes were built in a “flood plain” is a great example of ‘no government regulation’ at that time.