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Hillsborough OKs Foreclosed House Rehab Plan

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By MIKE SALINERO

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Published: November 7, 2008

TAMPA - Even with the downturn in real estate prices, more affordable housing is needed for Hillsborough County's poor and working-class families.

County officials hope to address that need starting next year with a $19 million federal grant from the National Stabilization Program, passed by Congress in July. The money must be used to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes that can then be sold or rented to needy families.

"This is not a foreclosure prevention program," Bill Armstrong, acting director of the county Affordable Housing Office, told county commissioners Thursday.

The commissioners approved a plan presented by Armstrong that targets foreclosures in the University of South Florida area, Orient Park, and in the Clair-Mel City, Palm River and Progress Village neighborhoods.

All are low- to moderate-income areas, but that's not the main reason they were chosen, said Valmarie Turner, Affordable Housing contract unit manager. Turner said the three areas had the highest number of foreclosures in the county's unincorporated areas, the highest number of houses financed with subprime loans and the highest number of houses at risk of foreclosure. The criteria were set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

One-quarter of the foreclosed homes purchased by the county must be rented or sold to families making 50 percent or less of the area's median income. Rayme Nuckles, chief executive officer of the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County, told commissioners they could meet that goal by combining the foreclosure program with Section 8 federal housing vouchers. The vouchers would enable the poorest families to rent homes, he said.

Armstrong said the county should get the $19 million at the end of January.

To see the Neighborhood Stabilization Plan, go to www.hillsboroughcounty.org/affordablehousingoffice....

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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