Florida agencies received grants totaling $1.2M to counsel families facing foreclosure, seeking affordable rental housing or hoping to buy their first home. Perhaps identifying these agencies will help implement the the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program that seems mired in bureaucratic quicksand. So far, little of the millions of the federal program initiated in 2008 and administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been used to help local governments pull properties out of foreclosure, refurbish the homes and resell them to low-income families. Hopefully better organization and relationships with nonprofit housing groups, real estate professionals, developers and banks will lead to realization of the end result; to help distressed areas, create jobs and stabilize communities.
What's ironic is that private investors are moving forward without the help of government funding buying distressed properties, working through short sales, and re-selling properties thereby eliminating some of the blight. The municipalities awarded the grants are stymied by endless red tape and uncooperative banks that are seemingly uninterested in the end result intended.
More money poured out of taxpayers pockets and into programs that many know little about. Every private investor should provide this information to distressed homeowners, buyers, and other investors. For a complete list of local agencies to connect with go to: http://www.hud.gov/local/fl/news/pr2009-10-13.cfm.SP