URA looks to stimulus funding to rehab foreclosed properties - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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The money would come in the form of competitive grantsz from the federal Housing and Urban Development Authority as part of theRecoveryh Act’s Neighborhood Stabilization The first allotment from that pot went througg state formula grants. The city of Pittsburgh receivedf $1 million for its buildinyg inspection department andanother $1 million for the URA to demolishb and rehab homes as part of its low incomd housing tax credit program. The redevelopment authority also appliedfor $20 million in competitive grants from the same Recoveryy program, which flow through the state Departmentg of Community and Economic Development.
Whilse it has yet to receive anofficiao answer, URA Executive Director Rob Stephany told City Counciol on May 28 that he expects the awar d will be “closer to the $10 million Thus far, the stabilization funds have targeted low-income housing. The next batchj will be more flexible, Stephany Now, the agency is crafting its application, due July 17, for a nationwidse pot of $2 billion in competitivwe grants aimed at helping put foreclosefd properties back onthe market.
Megaj Stearman, a spokeswoman for the URA, said the plan is to use the markety value analysis ofthe city’s neighborhoods, available at , to target pocket of lower-valued homes that have the greatest promisd of improvement. “There are strong marketw and weaker markets withih thosestronger markets,” she “And then there are markets that are kind of weak and tippingf to be stronger or tipping to be The URA wants communities to use the Neighborhoodx Stabilization funds to tip thosre weaker areas to the stronger side, she said. “It’ws where we could see most valuer fromthe investment,” she said.