With foreclosures on the rise, communities are often left with properties that turn into eyesores – vacant, not maintained, falling apart. Last week, HUD awarded an additional $1 billion to state and county governments to help communities clean up the effects vacant homes. This is the third round of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding, designed to allow communities to earmark the money for acquiring, redeveloping or demolishing foreclosed properties. Every state, including Washington DC and Puerto Rico, has received funding. This latest round follows $6 billion already dedicated to this program since 2008. “State and local governments can use their neighborhood stabilization grants to acquire land and property; to demolish or rehabilitate abandoned homes; and to offer downpayment and closing cost assistance to low- to moderate-income homebuyers. In addition, the grantees can create “land banks” to assemble, temporarily manage, and dispose of vacant properties.”
