Grant money aims to rehab abandoned properties

SAUGUS – A new grant from the Attorney General?s office could help restore more abandoned homes in Saugus.The Chelsea Restoration Corporation was recently awarded $450,000 and was one of 18 organizations to receive money as part of the HomeCorps grants initiative.?So many properties in Chelsea, Revere and Saugus are in complete disrepair, and they drag neighborhoods down with them,” said Helen Zucco, the Executive Director of Chelsea Restoration. “This funding will enable us to completely rehabilitate these homes and revitalize the surrounding area.”Chelsea Restoration, along with the Saugus Affordable Housing Trust, helped restore and sell a home on High Street in Saugus over the summer that had been abandoned for 15 years.Janet Leuci, Chairman of the Affordable Housing Trust, said the money will be used to purchase and repair more properties with the goal of selling them to local residents, specifically veterans and first-time homeowners.?There was no money coming from Saugus,” said Leuci. “Chelsea Restoration had to use their own funds and get their own loans. Now there will be more money specifically for Saugus. Hopefully we?ll be able to work on more properties than in the past and get them sold for affordable housing. It?s really exciting news.”The home on High Street was sold at auction in July for $214,000. For 15 years the home sat vacant after a murder-suicide in 1997. Before it was renovated, the roof was falling apart, and weeds and shrubs grew wild around the property.The home was the first to be auctioned off as part of a new town program run by the Saugus Affordable Housing Trust, which has been working in conjunction with the Attorney General?s Abandoned Housing Receivership Program and Chelsea Restoration.According to a press release from Zucco, the grant is the result of a nationwide settlement involving the country?s five largest mortgage lenders and their connection with “unlawful foreclosures and loan servicing.”The money comes from more than $44 million from Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and GMAC/Ally, according to the release.The settlement also ordered the banks to pay $14.6 million in cash payments to Massachusetts borrowers in addition to $257 million in mortgage relief across the commonwealth.Over the last few months, Leuci has been eyeing other dilapidated homes around Saugus. But while Saugus has only seen one house successfully sold in the program, Leuci said just the threat of receivership is enough for homeowners to act.?There are all kinds of state guidelines and we have looked at some pretty bad properties,” said Leuci. “It has to be a property that can be rehabbed and brought up to code. Some don?t meet the criteria because they were so bad they needed to be torn down.”Leuci said she was hopeful after a house at 27? Wendell St. that had been in rough shape for years was recently sold, but noted the new owner still hasn?t done anything with the property.?We can look into that one again and see what?s going on,” said Leuci. “If nothing is going on, that might be the assistant AG and Chelsea Restoration could look at.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].