Almost $2 million in federal grant money will be used to acquire, redevelop and encourage residents to buy foreclosed and abandoned homes in Suitland, according to Prince George’s County housing officials. Suitland was chosen for the county’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires the $1.8 million to be spent on a specific target area, said project manager Rosalyn Clemens.
“While there are lots of neighborhoods … in the county with foreclosures, HUD wants us and Congress wants us to really put the funding in a tipping neighborhood — build on our assets, concentrate our resources, leverage what we’re doing to change the neighborhood,” she said.
The proposed plan includes buying and rehabilitating at least 10 Suitland-area homes beginning in July, with the county recycling the money earned from selling those properties to buy more foreclosed homes. Funds also will be loaned to eligible first-time homebuyers for acquiring foreclosed properties in the area, Clemens said.
Clemens said officials hope the redevelopment will attract some of the 12,000 employees of the Suitland Federal Center, which houses the U.S. Census Bureau and other offices, to move there.
“Most of those employees don’t live in Prince George’s County, and we want to provide an incentive through this program,” she said.
The Suitland area also was chosen because it is near the Suitland Metro Center and the county’s 22-acre Suitland Manor Redevelopment Project.
