Recent Releases
NHSA Intends to Apply for Funding under the US Dept. of HUD Neighborhood Stabilization Program National Round
July 6, 2009
Oakland, California ñ Neighborhood Housing Services of America (NHSA) is applying for funding assistance under HUDís NSP2 National Round of grants under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008. NHSA will be performing in its role as a non profit secondary market, to encourage and stimulate mortgage lending activity as a
strategy to provide financial mechanisms in communities to mitigate foreclosure activity. This notice is a requirement for NHSAís submittal for grant assistance, and is intended to enlist response from the geographic areas within which NHSA plans to use funds from NSP2, should a grant be awarded. NHSA is posting this notice at its Websites:
www.nhsaonline.org and www.justprice.org to solicit and receive comments relative to its request for funding assistance. We encourage citizen review of our proposed geographic target areas and our proposed uses of NSP2 funds. The required comment period for citizen response is 10 days prior to submission of our application to HUD, which is projected to occur no later than Friday, July 17, 2009. All citizen responses will be summarized for submittal with our formal application to the US Dept. of HUD.
NHSA is applying for eligible uses of NSP2 funds under HERA, as amended by the Recovery Act. Our application is being formulated to request assistance from HUD to use NSP2 funds under the following eligible categories of activity: a) establish financing mechanisms for the purchase and redevelopment of homes that have been foreclosed upon, inclusive of soft second mortgages, loan loss reserves, and shared equity loans for households not to exceed 120% of AMI; b) purchase and rehab of vacant residential properties that have been abandoned or foreclosed upon, in order to sell, rent, or redevelop such homes and properties; c) establish land banks for homes and residential properties that have been foreclosed upon; d) redevelop demolished or vacant properties into residential housing; and, d) provide homebuyer education services to prospective borrowers of vacant and abandoned or REO properties.
The amount of funding assistance that is being requested by NHSA under the NSP2 National Round is $85,187,474 which is planned to leverage $505,732,000 in private sector secondary market loan purchases in the following areas.
The geographic areas within which NHSA will focus its activities under NSP2 include: New Haven, CT; eligible areas within the state of Illinois; eligible areas within Hamilton County, OH; Cincinnati, OH; Ventura County, CA; Santa Barbara County, CA; Miami- Dade County, FL; Santa Fe, NM; Manchester, NH; Washington, DC; Richmond, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Detroit, MI; Springfield, MA; Manchester, VT; St. Paul, MN; and eligible areas within the state of Colorado.
The primary use of NSP2 funds received by NHSA will be used facilitate and benefit households whose income do not exceed 120% of area median income (AMI).
Working together for safer community
Pioneer Press
Updated: 06/04/2009 07:20:15 PM CDT
Reversing the decline of older residential communities is one of the most serious challenges facing us today. Older housing stock, low incomes that impede regular maintenance, foreclosed or abandoned properties and vacant lots are just some of the things that plague our communities.
Through the hard work and vision of Community Neighborhood Housing Services, one of more than 230 NeighborWorks organizations, and thousands of partners and volunteers, this picture is being brightened in more than 4,400 urban, suburban and rural communities across the nation. These accomplishments will be celebrated during National NeighborWorks Week, which starts Saturday.
This year, CNHS, in conjunction with Westend Gardeners, will highlight the West End Neighbors Garden Tour.
One of the homes on the tour was purchased by a single mom last summer. The home has been rehabilitated and is almost ready for this young family. West End Gardeners recently spent an afternoon Rototilling, amending soil and planting a vegetable garden.
This is a story of people working together to make communities stronger and safer. Join us at the Fort Road Federation offices (974 W. Seventh St.) on Saturday for a plant sale and guide to the gardens on tour and the home brought back to life.
Cynthia Paulson, Eden Prairie
The writer is executive director of Community Neighborhood Housing Services of St. Paul.
Community Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc.
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 3:43 PM
Community Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc., a member of the national NeighborWorksR network, is being awarded $117,500 in flexible first round grant funds from NeighborWorksR America. This funding will provide a much-needed boost in support of their affordable housing and community development activities in the State of Minnesota.
In FY 2009, NeighborWorksR America (also known as the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation) will provide more than $81 million in grants to its national network of more than 235 community-based nonprofit organizations to create homeownership for lower-income families, produce and manage affordable, high-quality rental properties, stem the tide of foreclosures that threaten neighborhoods and local economies, and revitalize and strengthen communities. Additionally, through a special appropriation of funds provided by the FY 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act and the Housing Economic Recovery Act of 2008, NeighborWorksR America has awarded more than $307.5 million in National
Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program grants and $25.1 million in legal assistance grants to HUD-approved housing counseling intermediaries, state housing finance agencies and NeighborWorksR organizations to provide counseling and legal assistance to families and individuals facing the threat of foreclosure.
"Just one indicator of the value NeighborWorksR America generates is reflected in the fact that in recent years, the corporation has leveraged its federal appropriation by a factor of approximately $35 to $1 (the amount of investment generated in communities, generated per dollar of federally appropriated funds) -- resulting in a direct investment of nearly $4 billion in distressed communities in fiscal year 2008, primarily from the private sector. As stewards of taxpayer
dollars, NeighborWorksR ensures our investments are working in ways that truly make a difference," said NeighborWorksR America CEO Ken Wade. "We thank Congress and our other private, philanthropic and public funders
who make our work to expand affordable housing opportunities, strengthen communities and stem foreclosures possible. Although no one organization or sector can resolve the foreclosure problem alone, NeighborWorksR America is making a significant contribution to this effort."
Established by Congress in 1978 as the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, NeighborWorksR America is the original community/public/private partnership model, with locally-driven, efficient community development and leverage of the public investment as its hallmarks. Over the past 30 years, NeighborWorksR America and the NeighborWorksR System have consistently replicated this successful model in over 4,450 communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico; in America's urban, suburban and rural communities. NeighborWorksR organizations receive grants and programmatic support from NeighborWorksR America, as well as training scholarships to the
NeighborWorksR Training Institute.
Over the past five years the NeighborWorksR network has been able to:
Invest nearly $15 billion in America's urban, rural, and suburban communities;Provide homeownership counseling to more than 400,000 families;Assist more than 80,000 American families of modest means achieve their dream of home ownership;Develop, own and manage over 70,000 units of affordable, high quality multifamily housing;Rehabilitate more than 80,000 homes, using state-of-the-artmethods, including green and healthy building techniques;Create the nation's largest force of certified homeownership education and foreclosure intervention counselors;Invest in rebuilding efforts in hurricane-affected communities across the Gulf Coast; andMobilize hundreds of thousands of volunteers to revitalize communities.For questions about NeighborWorksR America or these grants awards, or if you would like to schedule a briefing regarding NeighborWorks, please reply to this e-mail or call NeighborWorks America's Office of Public Policy and Legislative Affairs at: (202) 220-2443.
