Housing Leadership Council of Palm Beach County

Palm Beach County will get millions to buy foreclosed homes

By PAUL QUINLAN

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Palm Beach County will receive $27.7 million of the $4 billion the federal government plans to dole out to state and local governments to help them buy and rehab homes that were foreclosed or abandoned during the real estate crash.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development grants are intended to curb the blight that has fallen on neighborhoods hit hardest by the mortgage and real-estate crisis.

Florida will receive a total of $541 million under the program, which aims to help communities redevelop, rehab or resell foreclosures that might otherwise mar neighborhoods and drag down values of surrounding homes.

The money may only be to benefit Palm Beach County households earning $67,000 or less - about 120 percent of the average median income.

In Florida, only the state government and Miami-Dade and Orange Counties will receive more than Palm Beach County, which saw a 7.6 percent foreclosure rate - just under the statewide 8 percent average. Port St. Lucie will get $13.5 million, with its 11.3 percent foreclosure rate. West Palm Beach and Boynton Beach will also receive grants of $4.3 million and $3 million to staunch foreclosure rates of 8.7 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively.

The county commission must draw up and submit its program to HUD by the Dec. 1 application deadline. Palm Beach County's Commission on Affordable Housing will host a workshop to solicit public input and discuss the details at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, at 3323 Belvedere Road, Building 509, in West Palm Beach.