The Washington region is joining together to ask for stimulus money for neighborhoods that are being pummeled by foreclosures.
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and six jurisdictions are applying for funds through the federal stimulus package’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program to be used throughout the region. The group has targeted 60 areas that would benefit from the grants.
“We have tried to target neighborhoods within jurisdictions that are good places where” there is a need for the funds, said Paul DesJardin, director of community planning and services for the Council of Governments. He said many areas were improving, but specific sections were still struggling. For example, 121 vacant properties are in one census tract in the 20110 ZIP code of Manassas and 343 in a tract in the 22191 ZIP code in Woodbridge, according to an analysis of the targeted areas.
Prince William County, Alexandria, Bowie, Fairfax County, Gaithersburg and Prince George’s County have joined together to apply for a portion of the $2 billion available. The minimum grant request has to be at least $5 million and must return at least 100 abandoned or foreclosed homes to productive use or limit their drain on the stability of the surrounding neighborhood. The consortium asked for $39.4 million.
The $5 million threshold makes it more difficult for individual jurisdictions to apply for funding, said Elijah Johnson, director of Prince William County’s Department of Housing and Community Development. He added that one of the main goals of the program was to get people into homes.
Midyear foreclosure statistics were mixed for the participating counties. Foreclosure filings in Fairfax, Loudoun County, Manassas and Prince William all dropped from the first half of 2008, while foreclosures in Montgomery County, Prince George’s, Alexandria and Arlington County rose, according to RealtyTrac.
“Unemployment-related foreclosures account for much of this increased activity, and the high number of borrowers who find themselves owing more on their mortgages than their homes are now worth represent a potentially significant future risk,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive of RealtyTrac.
