Article Contributed on: 10/8/2008 12:35:50 PM
Aurora is set to receive $4.47 million in federal funds to help stem the tide of foreclosures in the city.
The money will be used to buy foreclosed homes, renovate them and then sell them, primarily to first-time home buyers, said
Paul Andrus, community development planner with the city of Aurora.
Colorado is receiving $53 million in funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Neighborhood Stabilization program. Nationwide, $3.9 billion is being disbursed through the program.
The city has until Dec. 1 to submit a plan to HUD about how the money will be put to use in the community.
Considering the scope of the foreclosure problem, the money is "a drop in the bucket," Andrus said, adding, "we're pretty excited about getting at least this."
"At least with regard to this program, we would need a lot more money to address some of the impact in some of these neighborhoods," he said.
While nothing is set until the city comes up with a plan for the money, Andrus estimated the money could be used to purchase, fix up and then sell between 40 and 60 homes. Once HUD disburses the money to the city, it has 18 months to use it.
Through Sept. 30, 4,492 foreclosures have been filed in Arapahoe County, according the county's public trustee's office.
Andrus said the way the program might work is the city would buy foreclosed single-family homes, renovate them with an eye to energy efficiency to keep the long-term ownership costs down and then sell them at an affordable price to first-time home buyers. Under the program guidelines, the city will not profit from the sales.
Some of these buyers may also utilize existing first-time homeowner programs the city offers, such as down-payment assistance loans, and they will take homeownership classes, as well.
The goal of the program is to get people into homes they can afford now and in the future.
"We don't want to have any of these folks running into problems down the line," Andrus said. "We're making sure they're getting a property that they're not going to have those maintenance issues come into play to help them keep their housing costs reasonable."
The city's community development manager,
Joseph Garcia, agreed that the key to the program's success will be selling the homes at reasonable prices to qualified buyers.
"We want to keep them affordable so we don't repeat the foreclosure cycle," he said.