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Mayor Barrett announces $36 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program awards
Mayor Tom Barrett announced today that
Milwaukee will receive $36 million in federal funds to alleviate the impact of
high rates of mortgage foreclosure on city neighborhoods. The City of Milwaukee
will directly receive $25 million, and Habitat for Humanity, Inc. will receive
an additional $11 million.
The funds are part of $2 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds
distributed nation-wide through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). NSP supports the
purchase and rehabilitation of foreclosed, vacant properties in order to create
more affordable housing and renew neighborhoods. This is the second NSP grant
received by the City of Milwaukee; HUD awarded $9.2 million to Milwaukee in
2008.
“Milwaukee has been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, and we have mobilized a
broad coalition involving local government, the real estate and housing finance
industries, residents, and non-profit housing agencies to address this crisis,”
said Mayor Tom Barrett. “The $25 million grant provides the resources to return
approximately 1,000 foreclosed and abandoned residential units to productive
use.”
Milwaukee’s funds will be targeted to an area bounded roughly by Mill Road, 51st
Street, Richards Street, and Lincoln Avenue. As of January 1, 2010, that area
contained approximately 800 foreclosed properties, and more than 2,700
properties at some stage of the foreclosure process. Of the properties currently
in foreclosure, more than 1,600 are owner-occupied.
“The target area includes many neighborhoods in which a variety of partners are
making significant redevelopment investments and quality of life initiatives,”
Mayor Barrett said. “Attacking the instability created by foreclosures will
reinforce those efforts.”
“Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity is looking forward to further our commitment to
building simple, decent, and affordable housing in the targeted areas of
Washington Park, Harambee, and AMANI neighborhoods. This HUD grant will increase
our capacity to do so,” said Karen Higgins, Interim Executive Director of
Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity.
Under HUD rules, the NSP grant must be used for activities directly related to
foreclosed and abandoned properties. In Milwaukee, the first round of NSP funds
have been used to return such properties to productive use by providing loans
and grants to buyers to buy and renovate foreclosed properties. Funds also have
been used for selective demolition of homes that cannot be renovated,
redevelopment of vacant lots, and acquiring and mothballing properties for
future redevelopment.
The new infusion of $25 million in NSP money will be used for these same
purposes. In addition, NSP-2 funds will be used to create a loan pool to provide
credit for the purchase and renovation of foreclosed properties.
Milwaukee’s approach to addressing the foreclosure crisis was formulated by
Mayor Barrett’s Milwaukee Foreclosure Partnership Initiative (MFPI), created in
2008. MFPI, a public-private partnership made up of lenders, foundations, real
estate professionals, government representatives and community stakeholders,
sponsors other initiatives directed at foreclosure prevention and intervention.
Among these are a foreclosure mediation program operated by the Marquette
University Law School and a newly-formed Homeownership Consortium that is
expanding homebuyer education efforts and sponsoring a neighborhood marketing
campaign. The Milwaukee Common Council’s Special Joint Committee on the
Redevelopment of Abandoned and Foreclosed Properties also monitors foreclosure
efforts.
Detailed information about Milwaukee’s foreclosure initiatives, and information
about resources available to people and developers who wish to purchase and
renovate foreclosed properties, is available at
www.milwaukeehousinghelp.org.
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