City to get $4.47 million to buy foreclosures > General News > Stories > Aurora

RECENT STORIES

Fourth of July sparks firework regulations ( Kristin Morin/YourHub.com )
Aurora Animal Shelter - Pet of the week ( Aurora Animal Shelter )
Aurora helps you to be prepared for bad weather ( Kathy Cable )
City closings & limited hours for holiday weekend ( Kathy Cable )
Exploring CO: Summer fun tips for fathers and kids ( Be There for Your Kids )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Aurora \\ Stories \\ News \\ General News

City to get $4.47 million to buy foreclosures

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Kevin Hamm/YourHub.com on 10/8/2008

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.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Aurora

All stories by Kevin Hamm

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad