The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will distribute $50m to state and local governments to help address the inventory of foreclosed properties. HUD is awarding $44.5m to nine national organizations and $5.5m to local communities for the purpose of purchasing, rehabilitating and reselling foreclosed properties in hard-hit neighborhoods. HUD will make the grants through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, established under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The funds are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “I am proud to announce today one more resource for neighborhoods and communities that have been hit hard by the national foreclosure crisis,” said HUD secretary Shaun Donovan. “Thanks to the Recovery Act, we are able to dispatch experts into these communities to help them better manage their neighborhood stabilization programs so that small problems don’t become big ones.” State and local governments use NSP funding not only to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed properties, HUD said. Grants can also be used to offer downpayment and closing cost assistance to low- to moderate-income homebuyers or to crate so-called “land banks” to collect, manage and dispose of vacant land. HUD will grant $11.9m to ICF Inc., $7.1m each to National Council for Community DevelopmentEnterprise Community Partners and $5m to Training and Development Associates, to name a few national organizations that will receive funds. On a local basis, HUD will give grants to organizations in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, New England and Michigan. Write to Diana Golobay.

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