News Release
For Release: January 20th, 2010
Contact: Frank Baraff 914-469-3775

Orange will receive $3.6 million in federal neighborhood stabilization funds to acquire and rehabilitate abandoned and foreclosed residential properties.

Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, Jr. announced today that the City of Orange is slated to receive approximately $3.6 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP2) funds.  The NSP2 funding will be used by the City to acquire and rehabilitate abandoned and foreclosed residential properties within census tracts 189, 183, 184 & 186. These census tracts are primarily in the Central Orange Redevelopment Area and Central Valley Redevelopment Area.

The City hopes that city employees and local apartment renters will be among those who will qualify for and purchase the homes, as well as people from outside the City.

The funding is expected to rehabilitate and/or construct approximately 55 units of housing. A two-family house is equal to two units of housing, and a one-family home is equal to one unit.  The actual number of units rehabilitated will ultimately depend on the cost to acquire the properties from the banks that initiated and completed a foreclosure against the original owners

The NSP2 application required that applicants identify the developers that they intended to work with to implement and execute the NSP2 Project. Orange identified RPM Developers of Montclair, and Housing and
Neighborhood Development Services (HANDS), a local nonprofit community and housing development organization located in Orange.

Statement by Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, Jr.
“Increasingly, homes are falling under the ownership of banks, which are poorly equipped to maintain, restore or find purchasers for them.  The problem puts families in jeopardy and threatens the City’s tax base, property values and quality of life.  The NSP2 grant is one part of our strategy to stabilize our neighborhoods and help residents stay in their homes. Our goal is to provide assistance tailored to the needs of specific homeowners, reduce the number of foreclosures, and reduce the number of vacant and abandoned properties.”

Statement by Valerie Jackson, Director of Planning and Economic Development
“This grant helps us address the current foreclosure and housing crisis, stabilize our neighborhoods and move our redevelopment plans forward. Orange has a comprehensive strategy to prevent foreclosures and minimize the consequences when foreclosures occur.  The strategy was announced at a public forum last January and includes acquiring vacant, abandoned and blighted foreclosed properties at a discount from banks and others, rehabilitating the properties, and selling them to home buyers, who meet the affordable housing criteria.”

 

Background
A Consortium that included the City of Orange Township, Newark, East Orange, Irvington, Montclair, Essex County, and several non-profit organizations submitted an application on July 15, 2009 to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for approximately $45,000,000 in Neighborhood
Stabilization Program funds.

HUD recently published a list of grantees and amounts awarded nationwide. The Consortium that included the City of Orange Township and others in Essex County will share $20,759,155, according to HUD's website, or about 46% of the Consortium's original request.

The City's Department of Planning and Economic Development will lead the effort for Orange.  An official Notice of Award is pending from HUD.  The City must wait for the notice from HUD, execute an Agreement with the Consortium members, and other activity to take place before the actual property acquisition and rehabilitation efforts can begin.

For more information, please contact Valerie Jackson, Director of Planning
and Economic Development for the City of Orange Township at 973-266-4201.