Henry County Georgia.

HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program was created under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and will provide nearly $4 billion to states and certain local communities experiencing particularly high foreclosure problems and risk of property abandonment.  The program permits states and local governments to purchase foreclosed homes at a discount and to rehabilitate or redevelop them in order to respond to rising foreclosures and falling home values. 

State and local governments can use their neighborhood stabilization grants to acquire foreclosed upon residential property; to demolish or rehabilitate abandoned properties; and/or to offer down-payment and closing cost assistance to low- moderate- and middle-income homebuyers (household incomes not to exceed 120 percent of area median income).

NSP also seeks to prevent future foreclosures by requiring housing counseling for families receiving homebuyer assistance. In addition, future homebuyers will be protected by requiring grantees to ensure that new homebuyers under this program obtain a mortgage loan from a lender who agrees to comply with sound lending practices.

For the first round of NSP (NSP I) Henry County received $6,251,265 in funding from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to implement the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in Henry County. These funds were awarded in March 2009 and implementation steps are presently under way for NSP I.

For the second round of NSP (NSP II) Henry County is applying for funding in conjunction with the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) regional consortium. Funds are anticipated to be awarded by HUD in the second half of calendar year 2009. Activities for both rounds of NSP are similar and program administration resides at the local level for both rounds of NSP funding.