HUD grants to help Lynn repair abandoned homes

LYNN – With high foreclosure rates forcing a number of area homes to quickly become abandoned, city officials are scrambling to find a resolution to the crisis.
Help is now on the way, according to Don Walker of the Office of Economic and Community Development, who said an estimated $2.4 million in block grants from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will be used to purchase and rehab, demolish or renovate structures throughout the city.
?The bill (Division B, Title III, of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008) calls for the money to be allocated to places that have been hardest hit by foreclosure,” Walker said. “It?s been just awful in Lynn (with foreclosures). Obviously the money is not going to correct the entire situation, but it will definitely help.”
During 2007 alone, 818 properties in the city were listed in pre-foreclosure and 339 went to auction. Since January 2008, the city has seen an additional 502 homeowners facing foreclosure and an additional 300 going to auction, with the majority situated within the city?s designated Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA).
?Numbers have escalated since then, so we?re hoping to get the money sooner rather than later,” he said. “We haven?t heard yet from HUD on how they plan to distribute funds for the communities, so we haven?t put together a formula for how we plan to use the money yet.”
Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr., said he when an exact amount is determined for Lynn, he would like to see the funds allocated directly to the city for local control, instead of the money going to a state agency first.
?It?s an age-old battle between local, state and the federal government,” he said. “It would be better if the money was distributed locally because we could distribute the funds ourselves instead of us having to apply for the funds to the state with their rules and regulations.”
Walker said since the city would have 18 months from the date it receives the funds to spend them, it would only delay the process if the money does not go directly to the city.
?Hopefully the money will come sooner rather than later, but I expect it to come before the end of the year,” he said. “Once the money arrives, HUD is going to offer training on how to determine the best way to allocate the money, which we plan to attend.”
As the most populated community on the North Shore, Clancy said the city has made great strides with neighborhood revitalization in recent years, but with mounting foreclosure rates, the improvements could be undermined.
?It?s a very complicated, hot-button issue right now where people are finding themselves trapped in accelerating loans where they were, quite frankly, duped into agreeing to the terms,” he said. “These funds would be used to manage or take care of those people and to get them in different housing.”