Fairfax County supervisors expanded their efforts to fight home foreclosures on Monday with a $2.8 million infusion in federal funding. The new cash will allow more first-time buyers to purchase a foreclosed home and pay for nonprofits to turn some of the properties into rental units.
The grant is part of the $3.92 billion doled out by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to reverse the damage wrought on communities from the abandoned and blighted homes.
Faced with an accelerating foreclosure crisis, Fairfax supervisors in June approved a three-pronged, $6.5 million program to combat the problem. The county would buy, refurbish and sell 10 of the most derelict properties, offer counseling to owners at risk of losing their homes, and provide loans to aid homebuyers in purchasing a foreclosed dwelling.
The program was designed to leverage federal grants once they became available. The largest part of the recent federal infusion — $1.5 million — will go toward expanding the home-loan assistance for buyers at 100 percent of the area median income, or no more than $99,000 for a family of four. Another $1 million will let nonprofit groups buy foreclosed units, including condos, and rent them to tenants at half that income limit.
The county saw 1,264 homes enter the foreclosure process in October, according to foreclosure-tracking company RealtyTrac, second only to Prince William County’s 1,373 homes. Prince William, the Virginia locality worst-hit by the foreclosure crisis, received $4.1 million from HUD to reverse the problem.
The rash of foreclosures in Fairfax County has struck government coffers, as well, contributing to a projected $500 million shortfall next fiscal year. Supervisors unanimously approved the use of the $2.8 million, but asked staff to shorten the 15-year time frame in which the county is scheduled to recheck that recipients of the loans meet income limits, among other details.
“It makes no sense to invest long-term in these affordable housing mortgages,” said Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust.
