INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The County Commission today approved a staff recommendation to double the size of the area included in the county’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program 3.
The $1.5-million program funded by HUD in 2011 is a partnership between the county and Habitat for Humanity that purchases foreclosed homes, fixes them up and resells them as affordable housing.
The aim, as described in the program title, is to stabilize neighborhoods that may be deteriorating after the housing collapse that began in 2007. For that reason, the original program boundaries were fairly tight.
It was bounded on the north by Oslo Road, on the west by 27th Avenue, on the east by the canal that runs along 7th Road SW and by the county line in the south.
“We can probably purchase and rehab about 20 houses with the $1.5 million,” said Community Development Director Bob Keating.
Twenty foreclosures fixed up and occupied would have a significant impact on a small target area, according to Keating.
But Habitat has not been able to find enough foreclosures to buy and fix up in the original area.
“Foreclosures have fallen dramatically,” Keating told the Board. “In the first six months of 2011 there were 589 foreclosures in the county. In the first six months of 2012, there were only 291.”
Because of the dearth of foreclosures, Habitat has only been able to find two houses in its $40,000-to-$60,000 price range in the original target area to buy and fix up. That has caused the program to stall.
The enlarged area approved by the Commission goes north to 4th Street, west to 43rd and east to Old Dixie Highway, remaining at the county line in the south.
“The new area has twice as many homes as the original area and has a number of subdivisions with high foreclosures and bad mortgages,” Keating said.
A similar $4.5-million program referred to as NSP1 was funded by the federal government it 2009. It has been successful and will be wound down in September, according to Keating.
“We have already spent $5 million and still have grant money left,” Keating said.
The extra money comes from home-sale proceeds rolled back into the program.
Keating said he is awaiting guidance from federal agencies about what to do with money remaining in the NSP1 account after the program ends this fall.
“I think the guideline may be that we can use it for other community development projects,” Keating said.
