By Ashley Hungerford
ahungerford@mdjonline.com
MARIETTA - Cobb Commissioners agreed Tuesday to use federal money to buy and fix up foreclosed homes primarily in the southern part of the county.
Under a new U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program called the Neighborhood Stabilization program, Cobb is eligible for $6.8 million to identify, purchase, fix up and resell abandoned and foreclosed properties in the county. The grant
will cover about 34 homes, according to county officials. The program is part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, which was passed by Congress in July.
"One of the worst things that can happen to a subdivision is to have two, three, four or five foreclosed homes," Cobb Commissioner Joe Lee Thompson said. "Before long, the whole community looks bad. With this, we're able to clean up one piece of bad property at a time."
The county will hire an asset-management firm to identify, purchase and fix up the properties, Cobb Economic Development Director Michael Hughes said. The county expects to pay at least 15 percent below appraised value, Hughes said. No county money will be used, according to county leaders.
Purchases will likely be in Austell, Powder Springs and south Cobb areas that HUD has identified as having high rates of foreclosures.
Nick Autorina, deputy director of operations at Cobb's Community Development Block Grant Program Office, said the rennovated homes will be resold to low- to middle-income, qualified first-time home buyers. Public-safety officers may be among targeted buyers, said Cobb Chairman Sam Olens.
Olens is expected to sign the HUD agreement by February. Once the county receives the money, it has 18 months to use the funds.
The grant will be included in the county's fiscal year 2009 budget.
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Posted Comments
Perhaps this will revitalize our communities and provide employment for our citizens in the area.
Let's do the math. 6.8 million dollars divided by 34 homes. Doesn't that equal 200,000 for each home for the purchase and upgrades? Who sets the line for "affordable" housing status? If low and middle income families could afford 200,000 dollar homes, why are so many on the market?
I'm on the foreclosure clean up business and I have my own dumpsters ( which is different from the roll off dumpster - it does not damage the driveway - it has rubber tires ) . Anyway, I have the crew to load the dumpsters, to do repairs on the foreclosure houses and clean up crew. I'm trying to find out how I get in touch with the company that in responsable for this job and ,ultimately, become a subcontractor ( vendor ) . I appreciate in advance any information that will help me out . my email address is marcusmachado@bellsouth.net
I have a cleanup/lockout crew as well. I too would like the information that Marcus is looking for. I donot use dumpsters of any type as the tend to damage property and leave debris... neither is acceptable in my opinion. email kampllc@comcast.net