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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2008
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Contact: Zach Goldberg
202-225-5801 (office) |
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ENACTED HOUSING LEGISLATION INCLUDES
INVESTMENT FOR COMMUNITY BLOCK GRANTS
Federal Funding Will Help Redevelop Low Income Communities
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(Washington, D.C.) – The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, which President Bush signed into law, contains funding to help redevelop low income communities, Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) said today. The bill provides $4 billion in emergency assistance – including $5.8 million for the 12th District of New Jersey – in Community Block Grant funds to communities hardest hit by the foreclosure and subprime crisis. The funds would go toward the purchase of foreclosed homes, at a discount, and the rehabilitation or redevelopment of the homes to stabilize neighborhoods and stem the significant losses in home values of neighboring homes.
“Foreclosed properties have a rippling effect on communities and can depress the values of properties within a half mile radius for as many as five years,” Holt said. “I have been a long time supporter of the Community Development Block Grant program and its 33-year record of supporting the redevelopment of our nation’s most low-income communities.”
Under the bill, foreclosed and rehabilitated homes would be sold or rented to moderate-income individuals and families whose incomes do not exceed 120 percent of the area median income. At least 25 percent of the funds would be targeted to house low-income and very low-income persons and families -- whose incomes do not exceed 50 percent of area median income. Any profit from the sale, rental, rehabilitation or redevelopment of these properties must be reinvested in affordable housing and neighborhood stabilization. According to the Center for American Progress, $5.8 million in federal CBG funds could be used to rehabilitate up to 77 properties, which would in turn help create 116 new jobs in construction and $18 million in economic benefits in the surrounding communities.
In Fiscal Year 2008, Ewing Township, Franklin Township, Middletown, Old Bridge, the City of Trenton, Middlesex County, and Monmouth County received Block Grant funding. They are eligible for the emergency funding.
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