Connecting local stabilization programs to REO properties. Enterprise has already connected five cities – Los Angeles, Rochester, Cleveland, Sacramento and New York – to the property transfer portion of the Stabilization Trust. By year’s end, all eight Enterprise impact markets and two program offices (Denver and Atlanta) are slated to have local stabilization programs in place.
Financing for stabilization programs. Enterprise, in conjunctionwith the REO Capital Fund portion of the Stabilization Trust, will provide lending capital leveraged by NSP and other funds to neighborhood stabilization programs working with the Stabilization Trust. The lending capital will be available through local revolving loan funds and can be used to finance the acquisition, rehabilitation and holding of REO properties. The first local revolving loan funds will begin operation in Los Angeles by the end of the third quarter of 2009.
Adopting Green Communities Criteria. Cities including Columbus, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Miami currently use Enterprise’s Green Communities Criteria in carrying out their neighborhood stabilization programs. To support and expand the use of this green affordable housing standard, Enterprise provides training and technical assistance to builders, local governments and nonprofits. The Criteria are applicable to different climates as well as the rehab of every type of local housing style. We expect all Impact Markets to adopt Green Communities Criteria for their neighborhood stabilization work by the end of the year, and numerous additional markets to adopt the standard since HUD set it as a required rehabilitation threshold for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2. For more information on Enterprise’s Green Communities Criteria please visit: Green Communities or Download the Green Communities Criteria.
Providing technical assistance and grant capital. Enterprise has provided technical assistance and grant capital to local partners establishing REO acquisition/rehab programs. In Rochester and New York City, this support has been used to expand and improve the capacity of existing programs. In Los Angeles, Cleveland and East Orange County, N.J., the support has helped establish new programs and create new entities focused on neighborhood stabilization.
Technical assistance and, where appropriate, grant capital, is being provided to support local programs in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Sacramento, Atlanta, Columbus, Denver, Dallas and the Gulf Coast.
Los Angeles: Early in the foreclosure crisis, Enterprise and the city of Los Angeles recognized that vacant and abandoned properties represented a serious threat to L.A. neighborhoods. To respond to this emerging problem, Enterprise's Los Angeles office and the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) created a community-based development organization, Restore Neighborhoods L.A. (RNLA), to take charge of the acquisition and rehabilitation components of L.A.’s neighborhood stabilization program. Enterprise used its experience in creating a similar entity in New York City to help form RNLA, as well as a start-up grant and in-kind staff time. To expand the impact of RNLA’s work, Enterprise is partnering with LAHD to create a leveraged financing vehicle through the Stabilization Trust, which will provide a $20MM credit facility for the acquisition and rehabilitation of foreclosed and blighted homes.
Atlanta: Recognizing the danger that foreclosure and abandonment represented to their community, Enterprise's Atlanta office convened local stakeholders and in partnership created a foreclosure response proposal, “House to Home.” To help translate the “House to Home” proposal into practice, the Atlanta office worked with the city to draft the NSAP Neighborhood Stabilization Action Plan required by HUD. The action plan incorporates the “House to Home” plan and Enterprise’s Green Communities Criteria. Enterprise is helping to review proposals submitted to the city by organizations applying for Atlanta’s neighborhood stabilization funds, and working to connect local organizations with the Stabilization Trust.
Ohio: Enterprise's Ohio office worked with several longtime partners in the Cleveland market to create a targeted and comprehensive neighborhood stabilization initiative. To support the establishment of this program, Enterprise provided grant and loan capital, along with technical assistance on designing the multilayered financing and operational structure. During the next three years, the program will impact 750 homes in six neighborhoods by renovating and demolishing houses as well as providing mortgage workout counseling, for more than a 1,000 properties outside of those neighborhoods. Through the first round of NSP funding 1100 homes will be acquired and rehabbed or demolished. Cleveland’s initiative includes an innovative short-term, lease-purchase program that provides a path to homeownership for families who cannot access mortgage financing in the tighter credit market.
District of Columbia: The foreclosure and vacant property crisis in Washington, D.C. is less widespread than in many other cities. However, it is destabilizing some neighborhoods as vacancy and abandonment rise and absentee landlords replace homeowners. To focus attention on the problem, Enterprise's D.C. office is working with City First Land Trust to establish an REO program and acquire more than 50 properties by the end of the year.
Gulf Coast Region: As part of Enterprise’s continuing commitment to aid communities devastated by the 2005 hurricanes, our Gulf Coast office, in partnership with The Resource Foundation, ECD/HOPE, and with the help of a $20 million award from the state of Mississippi, is working to transform 300 vacant foreclosed homes into homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. Enterprise is committed to rehabbing these homes to meet the Green Communities Criteria, improving their affordability and raising the quality of life for the families who purchase them.
New York City: Enterprise connected Restored Homes, an entity established by Enterprise to purchase and rehabilitate HUD homes, to the Stabilization Trust. We provided grant funding to help expand Restored Homes’ neighborhood stabilization activities into additional communities and beyond FHA foreclosed homes. We are also helping Restored Homes to close a credit facility to finance its acquisition and rehabilitation work.
Through our New York City office, we also made an investment in HANDS, an affordable housing nonprofit based in New Jersey. The investment supported HANDS’ purchase of a portfolio of distressed mortgages from WaMu. HANDS will clear title, rehabilitate the homes and return them to the market as affordable housing. The successful purchase of mortgage notes establishes a new path for affordable housing groups to take title to properties blighting their community.
Rochester, N.Y.: Enterprise’s Upstate New York office is supplementing its experience with consultant support to help expand HOME Rochester, the existing neighborhood stabilization program in the city of Rochester, to additional communities in Rochester and surrounding counties. The intention is to double the number of vacant homes redeveloped from 350 to 700. Our offices in Upstate New York and New York City are jointly working with the New York State HFA, which is tapping Enterprise’s experience in forming public-private affordable housing acquisition funds and operating neighborhood stabilization programs. The aim of our partnership with the New York State HFA is to help quickly establish sizeable, effective local responses to foreclosed homes in communities throughout the state.
|
|
