Summit County Executive Russell M. Pry Awarded $3.7 Million Grant, Communities Hard-Hit by Foreclosures to Benefit


On Thursday, January 15, 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) named the County of Summit as the recipient of a $3.7 million Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grant.

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program provides grants to every state and certain local communities to purchase foreclosed or abandoned homes and to rehabilitate, resell, or redevelop homes in order to stabilize neighborhoods and stem the decline of house values of neighboring homes. The program is authorized under Title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.

“Summit County was one of six communities in the State of Ohio to receive NSP grant funding,” said Summit County Executive Russell M. Pry. “My administration is very eager to finalize a plan that will provide emergency assistance to particular Summit County areas hard-hit by the effects of foreclosures.”

According to HUD, local governments can also use these grants to acquire land and property, to demolish or rehabilitate abandoned properties and/or to offer down payment and closing cost assistance to low-to-moderate income homebuyers (household incomes that do not exceed 120 percent of area median income). Grantees can also use the dollars to create “land banks” to assemble, temporarily manage and dispose of vacant land for the purpose of stabilizing neighborhoods and encouraging re-use or redevelopment of urban property.

For more information on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program visit www.hud.gov .