Three years ago, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt announced the “Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative,” an effort to assist homeowners in communities that were disproportionally affected by foreclosures.
The program is conducted as a partnership between Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the National Community Stabilization Trust, a national non-profit specializes in stabilization efforts in distressed communities.
The program matches distressed REO properties with “mission-focused organizations for property renovation and resale,” which helps prevent blight and promotes affordable housing opportunities.
The program began as a pilot in Detroit, as well as Cook County, Illinois. The program was then expanded in December 2015 to 18 different markets, including New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and St. Louis.
Now, the Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative is being expanded to 10 new markets.
The NSI will now operate in a total of 28 markets that have large concentrations of distressed and low-value REO inventory.
According to an announcement from the NCST, the 10 new markets are: Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York; Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama; Flint, Michigan; Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas; Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky-Indiana; Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin; Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida; Trenton, New Jersey; and Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pennsylvania.
Since the program’s inception, more than 3,300 properties have been transferred to NCST’s community buyers through NSI.
The other 18 NSI strategic market areas, where NSI is already active, are Akron, Ohio; Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia; Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, Maryland; Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana; Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan; Jacksonville, Florida; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Florida; New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania; Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida; Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; St. Louis, Missouri; Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida; and Toledo, Ohio.
“We are pleased to bring this initiative to more market areas,” said Rob Grossinger, president, NCST.
“Our goal is to help community buyers acquire and rehabilitate properties in a way that helps break the cycle of neighborhood distress,” Grossinger added. “We believe our long-term relationships with key local organizations, and a collaborative working relationship with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, will benefit the local neighborhoods.”
